


Masking the truth

by notthatwan



Category: Baka to Test to Shokanju | Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arranged Marriage, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Himeji and Minami are gonna suffer, Jealousy, LGBTQ Character, Pining, Post-Season/Series Finale, Reunions, Updates are random, akihisa is like v smart and rich, but he wants to be free and so fumizuki academy happened, i go to school so chapters are gonna be late, parents are sometimes shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-02-20 10:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13144611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notthatwan/pseuds/notthatwan
Summary: Akihisa has been living peacefully as the number one idiot in Fumizuki Academy until one mysterious girl showed up at his school suddenly in the beginning of his new school year. She brings back nostalgic and lovely memories but her true mission wasn't as pleasant. The gang is wary of the new girl and they try to somehow protect their friend. How will the two girls pining for him react to the new addition and their weird relationship?





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter one: A new face, an old hatred and guilt.

Yoshii Akihisa, a name that is famous throughout Fumizuki Academy as one of the most idiotic student there. It was a bit of a surprise that he even graduated the second year with grades like his, but nonetheless, he did and now a third year student still in class F. It was a surprise to see the same set of friends in the same class as him, one would’ve thought that they all studied hard enough to rise up at least to class E. For reasons unknown and so that it’d be easy, the same gang stayed friends until now with the determination to graduate and get into a good university, as well as get class A’s equipments. 

However, the tension between the two girls and him are still the same as ever as neither of them have enough courage to confess but just fall deeper and harder for him. Despite that, they still are determined to try and make him fall for one of them. They’ve grown more mature and smart as to how to capture his heart and made a truce to use their skills as a girl to win him and not just painful torture, though they would use the latter if need. 

The class rep of 2-F is still the class rep of 3-F, Sakamoto Yuuji has become more cunning and smart strategizing his plans for future summoner battles. Mutsurini, or his real name, Tsuchiya Kouta, has made a reputation for himself and has become the highly skilled voyeuristic ninja every man in the school applauds. Kinoshita Hideyoshi has become the president of the drama club for obvious reasons and has doubled the amount of admirers since his last stage play of him being the female lead. 

Everyone would’ve thought Himeji Mizuki, the class A level student, actually made it to class A in her third year but during the exam, Himeji has made the grand mistake of leaving her name blank and due to that her score was zero. Such a simple mistake, don’t you think? Or was it an intentional one? 

Anyways, they’ve settled into their third year classes by the end of April and now have gotten along with each other. Suffice to say that, the school year wasn’t going to be any different than last year.

Until one monday morning, our main protagonist was walking down the road to his school, all the while yawning since he’d stayed up all night playing video games and tried to down any poisonous sludge his older sister has cooked up. As well as avoiding her sexual assaults so early in the morning. Just another morning in his life. He’s spotted his usual group of friends and jogged his way to them inevitably joining in on their conversation. 

They all came to a stop however when the school gate was a bit crowded all of a sudden. There was an expensive looking limousine parked right in front of their school as well as several guards surrounding the car. The students all gawk and stare at the foreign car, curious as to why it was here. From what they’ve been hearing at the moment to all the hushed whispers students around them were saying, either it was a rich kid transferring to their school or it was some important person visiting our school. Neither choices interests the class F class rep so he decided to move forward and push through the many people surrounding the car, the rest of the gang following suit behind him. 

It wasn’t until they heard gasps from the surrounding students that they took a look at the foreign car. The door was opened by one of the guards and out came a young girl, about the same age as them, with long flowing white hair and piercing indigo eyes. Before the male students get to fan over her sheer beauty however, Nishimura-sensei, aka Tetsujin for some people, had appeared at the back of the crowd of students and ordered them all to run to class before they were all sentenced to a remedial class. The crowd hurried to get to their respective classes in fear of his remedial class which they thought were like Hell itself. 

The class F’s gang made a move to enter the school and get to their own class before a smooth yet startling voice stopped them. 

“Yoshii Akihisa.”

They all stopped in their tracks and looked at the girl and at Akihisa. Instead of a surprised expression, they find Akihisa’s face to be nostalgic. “You five! Get to class before I put you in remedial class!!” they all jumped at Nishimura’s sudden yell and went ahead without Akihisa. As they ran to class, their thoughts were filled with what will happen between Akihisa and the mysterious girl. 

“The girl seems suspicious, Yuuji.” Hideyoshi commented as they neared their class. Class 3-F wasn’t that much different from their old class except that the cardboard boxes were replaced with the original unsteady low table and worn out cushions. “What sort of things did Akihisa did to include someone like that?” he wondered as he entered the class then puts his bag down. “Akihisa doesn’t look like the type to get involved in people like that.” Minami added, she sat down beside Himeji. Himeji nodded and looked at the window, she peered downwards at the school gate, the car was still there and it looks like Akihisa was talking to the girl. They all looked at each other worryingly, this was their friend they were talking about! 

Knowing how stupid Akihisa was, he probably agreed to do something really shady without thinking about the consequences and got roped into something horrible! Yuuji thought. 

Akihisa was stupid so he probably went and did something bad unknowingly that it probably costed him his life! Hideyoshi theorized. 

Did the girl liked Akihisa so much that he want him as her toy and now we’ll never see him again?! Minami and Himeji thought. 

They all turned to Mutsurini who was about to set up a hearing device near where their friend was until Nishimura-sensei had appeared at their class door. “Alright, you all go back to your seats!” his voice shook the wooden sliding door and the glass on the window. The FFF group had set down their weapons and the rest put away their games replacing them with blank notebooks. The others were reluctant to do as he says as they still haven’t confirmed of Akihisa’s safety yet but one look at Tetsujin’s hard stare, they all scrambled to their places, only to wait for their friend to arrive. 

Meanwhile downstairs was a different story. 

The girl walks up to Akihisa, who was just a few feet from the door. Her moves were smooth, the wind blew as her hair flows and shines in the morning light. They were just a foot away from each other now, “How are you doing, Akihisa?” she asks in english. She smiles and tucks her stray strand of hair behind her ear. Akihisa smiles, “I’m doing good, Naomi. You?” he replies. Not looking at her face, his eyes wanders to her attire. The yukata she wore really suits her as he predicted when he saw his friends wore some during the summer festival. He wondered how she got her hand on one but seeing as she was rich, she could get her hand on anything really. 

The girl smiles but there was a tinge of sadness in her eyes, “Why have you not answered any of our messages and calls?” she asked and changing the topic. He knew she would ask this question, he turned away from her face and grips the strap of his school bag. 

She should know, of all people, as to why he didn’t respond to any of their messages and calls. He’s tired of being a puppet on a string, he wanted to cut those strings and be free from them. She should know how he feels but her good and obedient nature made her more docile than him. They were just using him, his sister was supposed to be the rightful heir to his father’s fortune but they decided to put all the responsibilities on him even though he was only a kid. 

“You of all people should know, I even left you a note. Didn’t you read it?”

“I did read it…!”

“Then?” he spat out, his eyes now furious. There was a tinge of sadness there too. Naomi kept quiet, she didn’t flinch at his voice or anything except keeping her stare at him. 

She was frozen, he knew how overbearing his parents can get and it’s annoying how controlling of them to their own son. But what he doesn’t know that after they realized their son’s words and that he won’t come back, they are now genuinely worried. They only managed to find him after sending out multiple people to search for him, there were dark circles under their eyes that they could only hide so much under makeup foundation. They realized he won’t respond to their words so they sent out her instead. She willingly helped them, she too was worried and she had missed him so much that it hurts every time she remembers his smile. 

Naomi opened her mouth to answer but all she could see was the back of her happiness moving away from her. She closed her mouth and walked back to the car, her shoulders were slumped but tensed as well. Looks like this will take a while. One of the guards opened the door for her which she whispered a small thank you to and slumped onto the car seat. She sighed and looked over at the large enveloped, mocking her failure. She turned away from it and stared instead at the school, pondering how will it be like to be at that school. 

Fumizuki Academy. She wonders what would it be like going to school there. Already set on her goal, she promised she will not fail her parents, she will not fail his parents and she will not fail him, not like she’s ever failed but there is a slight possibility. Although Akihisa absolutely despised his past life, he still has so much responsibilities to take care of and has a bright future ahead of him. With his now understanding parents and sister and with her.

At the same time, Akihisa took his time walking to class. Homeroom already ended but Tetsujin would’ve known anyway so there was no problem there. What he was worried about right now are the barrage of questions awaiting him from his friends. He lived so peacefully up until now, why had they suddenly wanted him to inherit his father’s work and fortune? He’s been living fine on his own and even when his sister had taken a flight back to America to settle a few things about her studies. Had they wanted him to come back so that their reputation won’t go downhill? Had they wanted him back so that they can gain a better image of themselves and their company? Whatever it was, he didn’t care. 

He really didn’t. His life as a probationary student at Fumizuki Academy will stay like this whether they like it or not. 

Akihisa opened his classroom door and was greeted with the only two girls in his class, “Aki, who was that girl you were talking to?” 

“Akihisa-kun, what kind of relationship do you have with that person?” 

Oh, crap. If he told them anything about Naomi, they will have his head. He turned to Yuuji who was expecting his answer as well as the other guys in the classroom, sharpening their scythes -the FFF group. Hideyoshi sat beside Yuuji and Mutsurini was polishing his cameras but he knew he was listening too. Their eyes glued to him made him feel nervous and sweating buckets. “It was nothing. Just an acquaintance is all.” after a moment’s pause, he answered. The tension in the room seemed to die down between the FFF members but he knew his friends too well that they can let that weak of an answer slide. 

He walked to his seat and set down his bag, their equipment wasn’t much different than their original ones during their second year. 

“Aki, please tell us.” Minami was persistent. “Un! We won’t get mad. I promise.” Himeji said in a calm voice but her intentions behind those words are much more intense. 

“I would tell you all but if I did, Minami will crush my bone with her brute strength and ow, Ow, OW, OW!!! Minami! My spine doesn’t bend that way!” he screamed in pain as she tried to bend him in the opposite way. “Who the hell are you calling a brute, you idiot?!” she yelled and put her strength into breaking the boy before he passed out after screaming so much and because of the pain he’d been inflicted on. All the while, Mutsurini taking the chance to catch a glimpse of Minami’s panties. He had a nosebleed. 

“But seriously akihisa, she looks like she’s from a rich family and we’re just worried that you might be involved in shady business or something.” he said in an actually worrying tone. Akihisa, after gaining consciousness, almost felt touched, “If they were to take you, my chances of beating class A will be slim without the number one idiot in this school.” NOT!! Honestly and he’d almost thought Yuuji actually cared for him. 

Hideyoshi sympathies with Akihisa, seems like he was the one to calm the situation now as always. “Whoever it was, we were wondering if they caused you trouble.” Hideyoshi… his one true love, he is the most beautiful and gentle loving person he’d ever met. “--or if you caused them trouble and you need us to help you out?” well, there was a bit of salt there, being rubbed on his wounds. But how to tell them the truth was what he’d really been thinking about. He didn’t want them to think differently of him and he certainly didn’t want to experience the same thing he did before he transferred here. 

When he first got enrolled into elementary school, he was already on a junior high school level intelligence so he could read his classmates like an open book. His first mistake was to introduce himself as the son of a wealthy family, his second mistake was to trust his new friends too quickly. 

They didn’t really cared for him, they just wanted to use him for popularity and money. Just like his own parents. But unlike his parents, they took his quietness to at advantage and used him to do all of their homework, well, his parents did take advantage of his quietness. He was so afraid from betrayal that he isolated himself, but he couldn’t lie, he wanted to have fun. He just hadn’t found the right people yet. 

...Yeah, there was no way he could ever tell his friends about this, no matter how long they’ve been friends. But even if he tells them the truth, they won’t believe him and will call him an idiot, jokingly telling him to go to nurse’s office too. He’d been with them far too long and have considered them as a sort of family. He didn’t even realized it but his attitude that day was strange enough even one of the teachers eyed him strangely. He didn’t talk to anyone that day and ignored everyone until he realized it was the end the day. The bell rang and he made a move to get up until all of his friends surrounded him. 

“Akihisa, you’ve been really weird today. Like even weirder than your usual stupid weirdness.” Yuuji said. 

"Whatever happened between you and the girl this morning has really changed your attitude today." Hideyoshi commented. 

He felt sorry for them as they looked like they were pleading for an answer from him, they all looked genuinely worried and it hurts him to see them like this. "I'm sorry guys but this is just something I can't tell you." he said in full honesty, almost breaking his 'dumb persona'. They all looked disappointed at his answer but that's just the way it has to be. They all left in a bit of an awkward state and felt a little somber too. He'd hoped he can make it up to them tomorrow or if the feeling around them now will disappeared tomorrow. He went home with his head filled with different ways he can tell them but each and every one of them felt too sudden and would leave them in a shocked state. He arrived home and saw his sister in the living room with her laptop. 

"I'm home." he said and took off his shoes. He dropped his bag on the dining table and went to the kitchen to make dinner for the both of them.

Meanwhile at a different condominium near the school, Naomi was on a skype call with Akihisa’s parents. Sitting in her room alone with Mamoru-san already sleeping in the next room, she felt really alone. She watches the flurry of people walking around Mr. Yoshii’s office as well as Mrs. Yoshii typing on her laptop rather slowly, she wishes Akihisa would see this scene. It wasn’t after a minute or so that, both them finally sat down together at his desk and adjusting the camera on his computer. 

Their faces were bright, indicating it was almost noon or so. “Good evening, Naomi.” Mrs. Yoshii started. 

She gladly smiled at them, “Good morning? I presume? Mrs. Yoshii, Mr. Yoshii.” she answered, straightening her posture. They gave a weak chuckle, “It’s 11.15am right now but anyway, how is our son? Is he doing well?” he asked. His face now filled with worry. 

“He’s doing fine, I guess. He’s rather thin but other than that he’s healthy looking.” she answered. They both sighed in relief. “What about his… friends? Were they delinquents? Are they bullying, our son?” the mother asked. 

Naomi shook her head. “They looked like well behaved students from what I saw. Akihisa looked happy with them.” she almost regretted that sentence as the look on both their faces were depressing looking. Their eyes traveled to each other then to the ground. Their eyes were just obviously showing sorrowness. It pained her heart to see two grown man and woman looking like that when before all this happened, she saw them sparkling with success and looked really freaking cool. 

But seeing them at their lowest like this make her want to turn away. 

Naomi cleared her throat. “Akihisa seemed infatuated at his current school and he didn’t look like he wanted to leave anytime soon. My arrival there even seemed a little unwelcome. He’s very smart so he might’ve expected this but I guess not with me.” she continued on her report. The couple nodded, “I see. And I take it, he didn’t read the envelope too?” the father asked. Naomi shook her head again. Technically, it was her own fault for not bringing it out in the first place but she’d reckon that it’d made him more angrier. 

They sighed, the father sat back in the chair. 

“Very well, I presume you’ll have to go with plan B, huh?” his mother inquired. She nodded. 

“Then, I’ll wish you the best of luck.”

“Me as well.”

She smiled and nodded, “Thank you, goodbye Mr and Mrs Yoshii.” she bid them farewell and ended their skype call while smiling at them. She closed the laptop and sat back at her chair. This was certainly going to take a long time, she thought. 

Naomi climbed onto her queen sized bed and into the covers. The window right beside her bed made her think back at her childhood, the times where Akihisa would mumbled the constellation names in the sky. She buries her head into the covers and reminices her favorite times with him. 

End of chapter one.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: Class A, Summoned Beings and Shock

The next morning was pretty hectic, Akihisa had woken up by a pair of lips coming towards him and if it weren’t for the fact that it was his freaking sister, he’d just let them crash onto his. He yelped before the lips met his and fell to the floor from his bed. He rubbed his head as it collided to the floor first, “What are you doing, Onee-san?!” he yelled in her face. 

He looked at the clock on his bed stand, 5am? This was way too early! ...oh right, she was going on a flight to America to settle some things. “I was just giving you a goodbye kiss so you won’t miss me so much!” she said ‘seductively’ pushing her breasts up and looking at Akihisa with dreamy eyes. He shivered in response and opened the door to his room and shoved his sister out. “I don’t need it! Now go before you miss your flight!” he yelled, pushing her outside. 

“But Aki-kun, don’t you want a goodbye kiss from your sister? If it’s not enough, maybe I can do something else?” she said suggestively which Akihisa cringed. 

“No, no! I’ll be perfectly fine, Onee-san! Now, go!” he finally pushed her out the door, he closed the door and locked it just before his sister could barge in again. 

He sighed, since he was already up, he’ll get ready for school. He hopes everything will go back to normal later on. His friends were disappointed that they didn’t get to know who Naomi was, he would’ve never let them if he wanted to survive another year, and what was our relationship. 

No use for thinking about that, he set about taking a shower. 

At the same time, Naomi was looking at her new school’s site while lying down on her bed. 

-“Four years ago, Fumizuki Academy adopted an examination system where the scores are not limited to 100. With this system, students could answer as many questions as they could within the time limit of an hour. A student would then have no limit to how high they could score, the limit instead being the student's own intelligence.

The classes are ranked from A to F, with the smarter students, those who scored better in the placement exam, go to class A and have better facilities than those classes below it—B to F. The quality of facilities progressively go down until class F is reached, with the worst facilities of the six classes that year level.” 

Interesting. So, no matter how many questions you answer, you still get points? Akihisa must’ve been in class A then, his intelligence does rivals her by a little bit. She closes the site and wonders what ways could she use to convince him to at least visit his home. He’s taken a liking to this place and his friends here don’t seem like they know his heritage. She’ll admit Japan is very beautiful though, she wonders why her mother hasn’t taken her on vacation here yet, but it was worth learning the japanese language with her mother so it will be easier for her now. 

Her eyes droop close and her mind drifts off to dreamland again. 

At least until a few minutes later, her alarm wakes her up. She startles awake and falls off her bed, groggily she stands up and shut the alarm off. 

Alright, let’s get ready for her first day of school.

\--

It was a ruckus in Class A, the most noticeable lot are the four students sitting at one table on their very comfortable reclining chairs. The class representative, Kirishima Shouko, was listening attentively while her other companions at the table were engaged in conversation. 

Class Ambassador, Kinoshita Yuuko, was surprised to hear about a new student transferring to our class and having a very high score in the placement exam. “A new student transferring to our class is very rare, especially when the teacher said she has the chance to be in one the top ten.” she said, sounding a bit cautious of the new student. Kudou Aiko giggled beside her, “We never know, maybe she actually is smart and didn't bribe the teachers?” she joked. 

Toshimitsu Kubo adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, “If she is said to be in one of the top ten, then I must protect my place as the number two student!” He said and shoves his nose in his book more aggressively. Aiko giggled at his exaggerated actions. 

It didn't take long before their homeroom teacher arrived at their class along with the supposed new student. 

“Alright, everyone settle down in your seats. As you all know, we have a new student today who will be joining us.” She calmed down the loud chatters from her students quickly and gestured to the student standing next to her, “Please introduce yourself.”

“My name is Naomi Alexandre Tsukiko. It's pleasure to meet you all.” She gave a small bow towards the other classmates and raised her head to scan her surroundings. The teacher let her sit wherever she wanted since one table consisted of four reclining chairs. The teacher went on to teaching but she didn't pay attention much since whatever they were covering was something she already did last few years. What she was paying attention to are the interior designs of the class, it was equivalent that of a five star hotel! With flat screen tvs, providing students with laptops and a small cafe built into the class. 

All this investment into one class, she wondered what the other classes were like. She hadn't had the time to tour the school since she was having her placement exam and her transfer was very sudden. 

What intrigued her though, she hadn't seen Akihisa at all in the classroom. 

She's beginning to worry. 

Later that morning, second period ends without much happening but after the teacher left the class, Naomi was surrounded by new students asking her a million questions. “Where are you from?” “What should I call you since you have three names?” “How did you get your hair like this?” “Is it true you got a high score during the placement test?” “What does your parents do?” “What are your special abilities? Can you cook?” “Do you wanna each lunch together?” 

These questions were overwhelming her, she sinks in her seat further and looks at her new classmates nervously. She’s never had to answer questions like these so quickly, normally her questions are about the companies and her parents. 

The questions stop as a small cough erupted from behind them. The other students make way for the person -or rather a few people and make their way to their own seats or around the classroom. 

Three beautiful girls and a good looking guy comes up to her and takes a seat around her, well, the guy had no problem standing though. “It’s a pleasure to have you in our class, my name’s Kirishima Shouko. Class representative.” she introduces herself and they shake hands for a moment. “My name’s Kinoshita Yuuko, class ambassador.” the girl crossed her leg and folded her arms. “I’m Kudou Aiko, nice to meet you!” she shook her hand and waited for the last guy to introduce himself. “Toshimitsu Kubo, the number two student in the whole year.” 

Seems like he was proud to be the second student of the whole year.

“Nice to meet you all, I have to say. Your class is very impressive--”

“Of course, only the highest class for the students who deserve it.” Yuuko scoffs. ‘I see, she’s a bit arrogant.’ naomi thinks.

“But I have to ask, are other classes like this?” she asks. 

“Oh no, the school divided the students by our scores and how high our benefits are.” she explains in the simplest way. That’s not fair, if it’s like that then the students -so to speak, won’t have any motivation to study. Naomi frowns.   
“Another unique thing about Fumizuki Academy is the Avatar Summoning System.” Kubo added. 

Avatar Summoning System? Naomi raises her eyebrows and keeps quiet, letting him continue explaining. “With the teacher's supervision, students can summon their unique avatar which gains the power equal to the student's last test score, and fight each other.This was the latest system to encourage students to study.” he explained and adjusted his glasses again. Encourage students to study? Meaning that the higher the score a student gets, they have more power and they get to fight other students? They study to fight… huh. Never heard of that system before, this is interesting. 

Before Naomi could ask anymore, a student runs to Shouko’s side, panting. “Class F has declared war on Class D!” she informed all of them at once. “Are they trying to pull the same stunt like last year? It’s only been a month since we started school!” Yuuko clenched her fists and exited the class in a haste, Aiko and Kubo following suit. 

Shouko got up as well, “If you want to learn more about the summoning system, follow me.” she walked ahead and left her alone in her chair. 

Seeing there’s nothing better to do, she followed behind the class rep. ‘Let’s see what this summoning system is.’ she thought. 

Meanwhile in class F… 

“Are we really gonna use the same tactic as last year, Yuuji!?” Akihisa yelled in Yuuji’s ear as the other lied down on the worn down cushion. “Of course not, idiot.” he replied nonchalantly. “The class D surely would’ve seen this coming so they might be ready for us since they think we’ll use the same tactics against class E.” he answered and sits up, Akihisa it's beside him, crossed legs. 

“During the holidays, I had ordered Minami to study up to prepare, she’s now a bit more knowledgeable in japanese that she can understand a ton of kanji. Her strongest point is math, so if she loses her points, she can at least replenish a lot of scores.” he explained. Instead of using Himeji as our strong point, he used Minami as well, our chances of winning will double now. 

He applauds Yuuji in his mind, he doesn’t regret being friends with this guy. Even if he’s insulted, used and tortured him all those time during their first and second year, he’s still a master strategist and has brought our class to victory a few times. He will admit, this guy has the wits to be in class A but his lazy attitude landed him again, in class F. “That and we have you here again, still a probationary student.” 

Okay, that was an insult. 

“From our training last year, your avatar is still as agile as that time right?” he asks. Akihisa nods. 

“And with that, our class is sure to win this war.” 

“But what is your goal this time Yuuji? Since, Himeji herself wanted to be here, what’s your goal?” a reasonable question unexpectedly comes out of Akihisa’s mouth made Yuuji blink before smiling. “My goal is to show them that points don’t determine you yourself.” he said and exited the class. Presumably looking out for a teacher to capture and proceed with his plan, class D has already been informed we were declaring war on them so they would be expecting us any moment now.

\--

The first two troops of five people each, Hideyoshi and Minami as their captain, set out to class D but were stopped when the class was already outside and near the stairs. Miharu stood in front of the crowds her hands intertwining her own fingers as she looked dreamily at Minami, her hearts in her eyes are visible even to blind people. “Oh, my Honey. You declared war on us just to get to close to me didn’t you? I’m flattered~!” she squealed and restrained herself from glomping her right then and there. There wasn’t a problem if she really does that but this was war. 

“Like I’d ever declare war on a stupid reason like that! And I’m straight, remember?!” she yelled at Miharu to which she didn’t listen. “Don’t worry, Honey. After this war ends and you lose, I’ll comfort you all you want!” she wiggled her finger which made Minami cringe. 

“Class D! Charge!” Miharu shouted. 

There was a chorus of people summoning their avatars and the class F troops were overwhelmed by the high numbers. Their last test was their placement test but it was a little different, like a recovery test, students can answer as many questions as they want, but since it was a placement test everybody resorted to answering just a few more times. But little do they know that the infamous class F’s little circle were a lot more smarter than that. 

Minami and Hideyoshi nodded, they both scanned the high numbers of their opponents, this is enough to buy time. 

“I’m summoning my avatar! Summon!” they both yelled in a chorus. 

Their avatars popped up in front of them after another chorus of their troops summoning their own avatars. The smug expression on the class D students disappeared as their scores surprised them. The other students were that only of 20-70 points but the two captains at the front were standing out and had just the same scores as a class D student. Minami had the high score of 178(math was her strongest point) while Hideyoshi had the high score of 106.

Impossible! How could they have gained so much points?! Che! Doesn’t matter their points are still weak compared to us! Miharu thought. She didn’t waste a second as she ordered her class to charge forward. 

As did the two class F students. 

\--

Naomi watched from the front doors of class A, she was amazed by how the beings existed in the ESB field and in real life. Aiko had explained, the Avatar Summoning System was actually created accidentally through combining science and a supernatural power, whatever that means. She stared in awe as the beings fought each other, she’d never seen anything like this in either UK or the US! This is really extraordinary!

She did tried to use logical sense and how they could exist, she didn’t see and wires or projecting machine, truly, this was out of her knowledge. She did see Yuuko scowled at the class F students leading their groups, they seem to be winning at least winning very slowly that is. Seemed like this agitated her, however, the others were fine with whatever was going on, albeit watching a bit intently. Naomi noticed a certain redhead girl giving it her all fighting the ambassador of class D, she remembered her as one of the people Akihisa was walking with yesterday. 

Wait, they said this was class F?

…

Oh, god. Did Akihisa transferred to Class F?! The lowest class in the entire year? With the most horrible equipment? With all the idiots?! Her eyes widened, she frozen as she realized the newly acquired information. ‘No, no, no. There surely be one logical reason why this was happening,’ she thought, putting her hand on her chin. Maybe she’ll wait for this to end, then she’ll get her answer. Nodding she went back to watching. 

\--

The battle was coming to an almost end as most of the class F students were defeated and was in remedial class, much to their dismay. The class D student who did survive up until now were one fifth of the class F students who survived, that being, Yuuji, Akihisa, Tsuchiya(Mutsurini), Hideyoshi and Minami. 

“Give it up, Sakamoto. You’ve done this last year with class E but we’re stronger than them.” the class representative of class D, Genji smirked down at Yuuji, who was sitting crossed legged on the worn down cushion. He didn’t seemed bothered at all at the sudden intrusion of his class, instead he looked calm. “Are you gonna admit loss or what?” he asked impatiently. Then, immediately their saviour had arrived. “Himeji!!” they cheered at her arrival. Genji and his class stiffens and took a step back, “Oh, fuck. The class A candidate!! Sakamoto, you bastard.” Genji gritted his teeth but he and his class still prevailed and attacked Himeji’s avatar anyway, not that it’d do anything though. 

And so, the Summoner Test War came to an end as the ESB field disappeared as well as their Avatars, and class representative Hiraga Genji sunk down and admitted defeat. He sighed, “I guess, we have to exchange equipment now huh?” he looked around and grimaced at his surroundings. Yuuji shook his head and stood up. He held out a hand for the fellow class rep to take. 

“We won’t be exchanging equipment.” he said and received a few gasps from his friends. 

“What do you mean, Yuuji! We almost got our asses kicked by these guys!” Akihisa yelled at him. It’s the same thing as last year, after all their hard work, they weren’t gonna get their deserved reward? Well, considering last year… 

Ah. So that was is plan. 

“Instead, you’ll have to aid us during some other summoner war.” Yuuji explained. Genji looked skeptical but nodded in agreement anyways. “Fine, but the next time we fight. We won’t hold back!” he yelled and exited the room, slamming the door behind him. 

Just in time as the bell signaled the start of lunch. 

\--

“So, class F defeated class D?” 

There were currently in the school’s(expensive) cafeteria, Shouko was nowhere to be seen though. Aiko had said she’d probably went to give her lunch to her fiance. Naomi would’ve like to given a bento to Akihisa as well but, it seemed like she needed to learn more about class F and the students around her a little more since she observed that some group of boys, called the FFF inquisition, would punish those who wish to betray their sacred rule. Apparently, no men in this school would be accepted if they were to talk to a beautiful girl, unless it’s for school matter. 

Well, according to them anyways. But relationship between students were already forbidden in this school so why do they have to go so far? ‘I guess, if you’re sneaky about it then I guess it’s okay.’ she thought. 

“Class F is a bit daring too considering it’s only the start of the year.” Kubo commented. Aiko nodded in acknowledgement. The atmosphere was calm between the three of them as they eat, Yuuko was probably spending lunch alone in class or she went to the library. 

No, what bothers her more now is still Akihisa. She hasn’t seen him at all today, where else would he have lunch? His classroom? No, their class wasn’t as high end as class A. The cafeteria? There wasn’t any sign of him at all, and these lunch sets were a bit pricey she might say, so maybe he can’t afford it? He still would’ve had a lot of money right? His parents would’ve sent money right? … Maybe not. Well, class F looked like there were some promising students. They carried through the battle and in the end achieved victory, class F might not be so bad. 

She took a bite of her sandwich, pondering about nothing in particular. 

\--

Later that day, as the class F students dusted themselves off and packed all their belongings in their bags, bidding their pals farewell, the day has come to an end. 

At least, so it seems. 

“You class F scum are a bit too daring, I might say.” Yuuko suddenly said and broke the calm atmosphere of everyone finally ending their school day. 

The gang tensed at her presence. “Declaring a war so early in the year, and to class D no less.” she glared at Yuuji. 

“What? Are you scared we might actually beat you?” Yuuji scoffed. He stood up, towering over the class A student. She didn’t flinch though, “In your dreams, you all are just repeating your last year’s mistakes, class A will win whether you’ve planned it out already or not.” she crossed her arms. Yuuji didn’t say anything, rather than mildly glare at her. 

“What’s your problem with us, huh?” Minami piped up from where she stood beside Himeji. “You guys would’ve lost if it weren’t for the bell falling on the roof.” 

Yuuko didn’t made a move to look at her. 

“You’ve been at our throats since last year, what did we do?” Himeji asked, her voice soft yet sharp enough to poke at Yuuko to give them a response. “I’m just saying, you guys should quit before you get hurt.” she ended their confrontation like that as she exited the class, leaving them in an awkward silence. The rest looked at each other with confused eyes, her words stuck to Yuuji like glue. Sure, he didn’t want anyone to get hurt but what’s a war without a few injuries, in Akihisa’s case, literally saying. The silence faded as the door opened to reveal Shouko waiting. 

“...Yuuji, let’s go home...” her quiet voice reached his ears instantly, he shivered. 

It didn’t seem like the class rep minded that her own ambassador insulted her husband to be’s friends, or she did and she hid it really well under her infatuation to Yuuji. Everyone seemed to relax soon enough as they all walked out the classroom. However, there was an unfamiliar student standing in the middle of the hallway, possibly having halted her steps just as they exited the class. 

It was the mysterious girl that was talking to Akihisa yesterday morning, she was wearing the school’s uniform and her eyes traveled to each and everyone of them before landing on Akihisa. As soon as he exited the class and his eyes landed on her, he tensed. Himeji and Minami suddenly grew possessive as they witnessed a girl more beautiful than them making a suspiciously long eye contact with their Akihisa. “Who are you?” Minami asked, she suddenly took a step forward in front of Akihisa, seemingly trying to protect him. 

The girl landed her eyes onto hers, she was quiet before sighing, “Naomi Alexandre Tsukiko, I’m a new student here.” she explained. 

“What is your relationship to Akihisa-kun?” Himeji asked. 

That question was unanswered as Akihisa stepped forward, “Excuse me guys, I’ll see you all tomorrow okay?” he smiled wide and waved at everyone. “Hey, wait a sec Aki--” Minami reached for his hand, but it didn’t reach him in time as he was already beside Naomi. 

They all widened their eyes as Akihisa took hold of the girl’s hand, pulling her with him to the stairs beside class A. An abrupt feeling of pain licked their hearts to see Akihisa holding a hand that isn’t theirs, they wanted to get mad at him for it and possibly leave him in bruises but something about that girl made them feel like they shouldn’t. 

End of chapter two.

\--


	3. Chapter 3

There was an uncomfortable silence between them as Naomi waited for Akihisa at the entrance, he was taking a suspiciously long time to change his shoes. She looked back at the boy and saw him looking into the building, he was waiting for his friends upstairs but decided to turn and walk to Naomi. “Your class has some promising students. Was there a reason for you to pick the lowest class of the year?” Naomi attempted a conversation. 

He shook his head and walked ahead of her, “Then why?” she persisted and caught up to him. 

“I wanted to see how fun will it be.” 

“To be ridiculed by everyone as a probationary student?” 

“I want to see what lengths can people go to achieve victory and see what are the other people’s reaction to it.” 

Naomi stopped to look at him, ‘Then to what lengths will you go to forget about past self?’ she thought. “Those guys are actually good and as you said, they are a promising bunch of students. Albeit being a tad bit annoying, noisy, nosy, stupid and random.” he had picked that specific group to see what can they do to amuse him, so far, they’ve exceeded all his expectations. However, he did want to cherish them until the time comes where he’ll tell them the truth. He probably won’t see them again as no one would like to be friends with a liar. 

“Why did you pick Fumizuki Academy?” her final question before she turns in for the night as they neared his apartment. Mamoru-san was inching close behind them as they noticed him, he waited patiently for his mistress until it was time for him to pick her up. 

“Honestly, I picked it because it looked fun. I mean have you seen any other schools that divides the student using equipment and tests students using supernatural avatars?”  
Naomi chuckled and shook her head, indeed this was the first of their kind to use such a system and to be called a school. “Then, tell me.” she said, as they neared the staircase leading to the top level. He stopped in his tracks before going up. “Why did you want to be a probationary student?” 

He didn’t answer. Being a probationary student, he guesses it was like a punishment for him. He was the one who wanted freedom and he got it. He was free from his father’s grasp and he unintentionally made a name for himself here unrelated to what his original backstory. His parents were manipulative and overbearing. He knew that. But Akihisa can’t help but feel a little guilty. There was tiny lingering feeling of regret inside him and he didn’t have the power to remove it. 

\--

Her new life here was a drastic change to her old one in England. Usually, she had to wake up around 7 where two maids would accompany her and help her get ready in the morning. Then, Mamoru-san would accompany her throughout the day, helping her sort out the important new and recent files and the old and outdated ones. They would go to meet a few people to discuss about her future tasks as she inherits her father’s work. In her free time, she would’ve read a bunch of novels and listened to music. Other times, she would be slouching over her desk with piles and piles of work surrounding her. 

Now, she wakes up at 7am alone in the room. She hauls herself to get ready, all the while still dazed in the comfortable cold in the apartment. Mamoru-san would be in the kitchen, preparing breakfast while she teaches herself the Japanese language. From what her japanese mother taught her, it can both be very easy and sometimes hard as some sentences use different characters and their meanings would change in just one stroke of pen, pencil, brush, etc. 

She tries to adjust to the lifestyle that was the norm there as she looks down from her apartment to see a great amount of children without any supervision of an adult wearing yellow hats and walking to school. Naomi was worried at first to see them just walk around like that but after a few days of observation, she didn’t spot anybody in strange alleyways trying to kidnap them or anything. 

What she did notice is that, mornings were neither peaceful nor hectic. 

She goes to school at 8am with Mamoru-san by car so she doesn’t have to experience any of the rush hour horror at train stations she had the pleasure of hearing the story from a few classmates, not that she will have to experience any since she picked a condo close enough to the school. 

She had expected that today was going to be a rather uneventful day seeing as no class wars have broken out and she heard that class F is taking supplementary lessons to prepare for the next war, whenever that is. What she didn’t expect is two familiar girls doing a horrible job at spying on her as they’re always whispering to the point that they’re basically talking and they retreat to hide themselves behind a wall/ in an empty classroom after realizing that they were seen. 

It was almost the end of recess, she didn’t have anything better to do, might as well see what their deal was, she thought. 

Naomi stopped in her tracks, she heard a muffled gasp then two pairs of feet lightly tapping the floor. They were in the special rooms hallways so there was a lot of storage rooms and empty labs right about now. “What are you two doing?” she asked the seemingly empty hallway. There was a moment of silence in the air before a sigh broke it. 

A redhead girl with bright green eyes came out from behind a pillar as the other girl, long pink hair and a very noticeable D or E cup, exited an empty storage room. “What do you two want?” 

They looked at each other nervously before glancing back at Naomi, who’s expecting a logical answer for their behaviour. “We’re a bit curious about you and Aki.” the redhead girl spoke up before the pink haired girl. 

“Lately, he’s been acting weird and always acts nervous around us a-and he’s been kind of avoiding us a lot.” the petite girl fidgeted under her gaze as she fiddled her thumbs with her head down. 

“All this happened since you came to school that day and suddenly transferred here.” 

“We’ve asked Akihisa-kun multiple times but he’s been giving us the same answers even though he knows we’re not convinced, we knew it was a lie.” 

Naomi stayed silent. So these girls… they seem to have quite an attraction towards Akihisa. How cruel could Akihisa be to actually act stupid and play with these girl’s hearts. Well, from what she’s seen so far, they were playing with their own hearts as well, constantly racing each other to win his heart but unconsciously let the other win by one step before the other steps in front of them and repeat. “So, why have you come to me about it?” 

Red hair suddenly became flustered, did she strike a match? “W-We want to know why he’s acting like this, obviously! We’re just looking out for our...” she stuttered. “F-Friend!” pink hair screamed, finishing her friend’s sentence. 

“If he’s not answering then why would you think I’ll answer?” 

They girls glanced at each other, taken aback by her answer/ question. True, why did they think that she’ll answer if their own friend doesn’t want to answer. “... W-Well.... Lately he’s been talking to you a lot of the times and...”

“Why does it concern you to who he talks?” 

“Because, Akihisa-kun is our special friend and it would concern his own friends if he’s acting weird. We care about him as he’s become like family to us and well, he’s...” pink hair has her face red which from where she could observe somehow agitated the other girl beside her. “He’s too stupid to talk to another pretty girl like you!” 

Naomi straightened her back, ‘too stupid’ to talk to another girl, does the level of intelligence affect the way a guy can talk to a girl and vice versa? What in the world…? Before she could utter a word, the bell had reached the end of his ring. Had they talked without noticing the bell ringing? “Look, it’s not my place to answer questions about him,he needs to tell you guys himself.” she left them with a unsatisfied answer, the two girls sagged their shoulders, and turned to go back to her class. 

\--

“Uno!” Yuuji smiled, he had won the game for the second time. Hideyoshi silently congratulate him, he was smiling because he has only 3 cards left, lesser than any of the other two. He smiled, if he played his cards right, literally, he’ll win and won’t have to get the end of the short stick. Muttsurini nodded mutely, he was a bit happy though, he’d need Akihisa to put one more card then he’d be the second person to win. 

However, Akihisa… 

He was sweating buckets, gripping his cards and silently praying to whatever God there is to help him win the game. Even of it will cost him his life! Even though his life wasn’t worth all that much but he still wanted to live, God damn it! Whatever he’ll do if he lose will still end his life but at least he won’t die getting caught by doing that. 

They decided half an hour ago, the losing player will treat the winners whatever they wanted. They already decided to plan an outing together to the mall. The weekend was approaching and fun plans were already being thought of by tons of students. 

Akihisa being… Akihisa, he’d wanted to win so bad that his actions actually made him be on the losing end of the stick. His wallets was already dry and if he spends any more money, it’ll become like a literal Sahara desert. He won’t eat for at least two weeks and will have to resort to sugar and salt water if he’s lucky enough, maybe even a loaf of bread. He held more than ten cards in his hands and none of which will be going to be of help to him. He eyed Yuuji who smiled at Akihisa with a smugful grin, he knew he was losing. 

Goddamn, bastard!

Hideyoshi was trying to conceal his giddiness by covering half his face with his cards, but he can see the light shine in his eyes. His cheekbones were obvious enough, telling him he was smiling. Mutsurini had an excited aura around him, his gaze switched from his cards then his own, he was waiting for Akihisa to make a move. 

He might as well give as any sane person would, with these guys who he somehow has an incredibly bad luck with when playing cards, it was inevitable that he’d be on the losing team. Though, the motivation or at least his only trace of dignity left, made him want to try and think of a way around the losing end. “Come on, Akihisa. We’re both waiting.” Hideyoshi smiled, he was going to lose and he knew it. Why had he even agreed to this stupid game of cards?!

Akihisa mildly let out a small growl and picked a random card, a red one with the number 4 on it, and placed it on the pile in front of him. Hideyoshi’s eyes shone even though there’s not a single ray of sunshine reflecting in the window. He concealed his excitement very quickly and waited for Mutsurini. The boy himself, let out a huff as he placed a card matching the colour, but he didn’t stop, he placed one again with the matching number, another one with a matching number, two matching colours and one with a matching colour and number. 

“Oh, come on!!” 

“...Uno.” Mutsurini held out a small peace sign of his own victory as Akihisa grabbed his hair and began tugging on it. 

Hideyoshi awed at some of the cards matching the same number and colour. Then he smirked and spoke a small word that ended with a shriek of pain from a person rolling around the ground with cards everywhere and gripping his head. 

“Uno.” 

A terrifying, dramatic scream broke through the air and shook the wooden floor of tatami mat. Dramatically. 

Hideyoshi laughed, a bright smile was brought onto his face, it was of course beautiful. Hideyoshi smiling was a delicacy Akihisa had the pleasure of seeing everyday but now, it’s just mocking him. The class rep came from the leaning on the wall to stand next to the loser of the game, snickering in his face. “Face it, Akihisa. You lost. Looks like you’ll have to treat us all to…” he made a counting gesture which was only made to anger Akihisa. 

“Get away!” he screamed and hit Yuuji’s leg with his worn down cushion, it didn’t do anything other than feed the mocking. Yuuji left the loser to his own and walk towards his seat. 

“That’s not even remotely fair! You guys picked a game relying solely on luck and you guys cheated!” Akihisa whined like a child, rolling on the tatami. 

“You’re the one agreed to play and wasn’t the one saying ‘I’ll definitely win!’ was you? And don’t forget, you’re playing literally against a strategist, an actor and a silent pervert ninja.” 

Shit, that was a good point. Yuuji sneered at him while he gave the man the utmost enraged glare he could do. Now, he’d had to at least sell one of his games and that would give him only so much anguish. What’s worse was that, as he was whining about losing the two girls had entered the class. Lunch break had only ended a while ago and it was self-study period. Well, self-study as it is, the students were really only hanging out not really giving a lot of care. Not a single educational book was on the low table other than manga, magazines and maybe even those porn magazines. “Eh? What’s going on here?” Himeji asked as she sat down near Akihisa.

If those two knew what his penalty was then his wallets going to be sucked dry from buying crepes and other things girls might want guys to buy. “I-It’s nothing, Yuuji here was just being a bad friend as he always does.” Akihisa pointed his thumb at Yuuji who had his arms crossed.  
“Akihisa here lost a game of Uno so he has to treat us all this weekend.” 

Yuuji, you bastard!!

“How delightful! A weekend out with my friends, sounds fun!” Himeji squealed in excitement. Minami, giggled. “Aki, you know you suck playing against these three so why even try?” she joked but the boy himself received a hard jab at his dignity. “Minami, don’t rub any salt to my wounds! I beg of you...” he whined, ruffling his hair while rolling on the ground. While doing so, his actions created a small breeze directed towards Himeji. The cool breeze lifted her skirt slightly and she ended up blushing and shivering at the coolness. 

Unfortunately for Akihisa who was in the line of sight of her undergarment, suffered through a massive nosebleed as well as the silent ninja pervert but not before he swiftly caught the glimpse of her panties on his camera. He was lying on the floor, quivering as his nose was dripping a waterfall of blood. “Light pink… Bunnies... ” he muttered which made her blush bright red. Though, it wasn’t the ninja who received the blow, akihisa who has almost recovered from the lost of blood ended up having a print of a hand on his cheek and a kick to his stomach. “How low of you, Aki! Lifting, Himeji’s skirt like that!” Minami yelled as her hands were on her hips. 

“I didn’t even mean to peek at her panties though hers looked rather cute actually-- Ow, ow, ow, OW!! Minami, my legs don’t bend that way!” Minami lifted his legs and proceeded to bend them backwards. 

Himeji was clutching at her skirt, she was utterly embarrassed as the one person she didn’t want to see her childish underwear did in fact see them. She knew the actual reason for her skirt to fly up like that was because of the cracks in the wall with the windows. It was still april and the sky outside was a bit dark, the cool breeze made it even worse. Still, she couldn’t help but think that it was Akihisa who saw them(disregarding the fact that another person caught them on camera) and maybe she didn’t mind all that much. 

Wait, this is indecent for her to think! She should feel repulsed as there had been a guy peeking under her skirt but why wasn’t she? 

Akihisa still screamed in agony as his legs were bent passed their original capacity and he thinks his body flexibility is almost on par with a beginner gymnast. His hands were reaching out as if he was hoping someone would help him, his mouth moved to mouth ‘Somebody, save… me…!’ he casted a glance back at his friends, sparing them a look before before he ascended to the other side, passing out after a audible crack was heard from his back. 

“Yoshii Akihisa, an 18 year old boy who had not much of a life ahead of him. He died young to the hands of his classmate but he will be remembered forever as the number one idiot in school and the probationary student.” Yuuji said in a formal tone, Hideyoshi laying down a white cloth over his body. Like concealing a corpse. What type of friends are they?! 

Honestly, he’d think about it multiple times, what exactly did her do to deserve friends like these? What sin has he done except from all the buying of Hideyoshi’s pictures from the school’s black market. But, they were the ones who he made friends with from his first day. And they were the one who was by his side until now. 

Their antics at the back of the class ended once Nishimura-sensei came into class, starting the next period, not questioning the bright red face of Himeji, and a bright red handprint on the probationary student’s face.  
\--  
The rain pitter pattered on the window, filling the slowly emptying classroom with calm noises. The rain had started not long ago and it was bound to be a heavy one the longer they wait. Their usual school day passed by in a flash like no other but with the sky unexpectedly dark on a spring morning. Small droplets of rain fell to the earth, the buildings, the houses, the trees, they were all being coated in a wet blanket sort of. 

The door to class F opened to reveal class A’s rep, Kirishima Shouko. She was holding an unopened umbrella and her gaze was glued to Yuuji. “... Yuuji, let’s go home together...” she cocked her head cutely to the side, pointing towards the stairs. Yuuji didn’t mind it by now, he sighed though but Akihisa had guessed that it wasn’t anything bad behind it.  
Seeing Yuuji and Shouko leave the classroom like a couple, Himeji and Minami both glanced over at the boy in mind. He was almost finished packing his things as he casted a bright smile at Hideyoshi, bidding him a goodbye. 

Himeji glanced at Minami who was staring at Akihisa, she looked like she wanted to do something, hesitantly too. But she’d turned away and exited the classroom door. Himeji contemplated whether to call for her or to carry on with her plan. She didn’t want to miss this chance, so after gathering up her courage, she tooks silent steps towards Akihisa. “Akihisa-kun?” the boy looked up and smiled at her, her heart clenched at the scene. The person she’d fallen for is actually smiling bright at her. 

“What’s wrong, Himeji?”

“W-Well, I wanted to ask if you have an umbrella?” 

Akihisa sighed and shook his head. “I wish I could say yes. This is probably my fault for watching anime so late in the night that I didn’t watch the news or anything.” his shoulders slumped as his eyes traveled to the rain falling down outside the window.  
This was her chance!

“U-Um! I- Uh...” crap, she stuttered. Her words are coming out like a jumbled mess!

“I guess I could run in the rain, I think I can dodge at least a few bullets per second. I wonder how long it’d take for my clothes to get soaked?” he rambled on. ‘Run in the rain? That’s not good! He’ll catch a cold and it’ll be her fault!’ 

Himeji was quietly thinking to herself, unconsciously taking a lot of time just standing in front of him. “What’s the matter? Is something wrong, Himeji?” Akihisa asked with utmost kindness. Who wouldn’t when someone suddenly stuttered for no reason? God, she must look so weird right now. Well, it’s now or never. “I-I was wondering if you wanna share an umbrella?” she finally asked! She peeked at Akihisa after opening her eyes which she didn’t realize she had closed. He had lit up like a light bulb at the mention of an umbrella. 

“E-Eh? Are you sure? You wanna share with me?” he asked excitedly. 

Himeji nodded, suddenly smiling as he accepted her invitation. 

“Haha! Great, let’s get going then!” 

\--

Akihisa waited for Himeji to change her shoes, he tried to ignore all the glares he’s getting from the FFF inquisition. Did they knew, he was going to share an umbrella with the girl? How in the world did stories fly so damn fast? Well, it may look a bit obvious when he was bouncing up and down while waiting for a girl to change her shoes. It wasn’t that he’s excited to walk with her, I mean, he’d done that plenty of times already. He’s only excited because that’s the only first time she’s ever invited him to do something just the two of them. 

She’s gaining a lot of confidence these past weeks, maybe Minami’s assertiveness has rubbed off on her. It’d be a good thing to have, assertiveness would get you some things in life. 

In her mind however, she’s silently thinking about how it’d look like if they were a couple. Of course, things would start slow but hopefully they would become more closer than ever. The thought of that made a slight hue of red creep onto her face. 

She’s never been the more forward type so this was taking all of her confidence in herself to not mess up. 

Though, the picture of a certain redhead appearing in her mind sent her in a spiral of ‘what-ifs’. What if they’d shared an umbrella together, Minami was more forward than her. 

She’d confess right at that moment when one of them arrives at one of their houses, probably.

The german had no problem talking to the boy as much as she did. She even seemed so much closer to him than she was, a burning sensation suddenly coated her heart. Filling her with a bitter emotion. Then, there was the kiss that happened last year. God knows she was incredibly sad and heartbroken when she saw that. Crying in the girls room wasn't the most proud thing she'd caught herself doing but she pulled through and accepted their temporary relationship during the summoning battles between class D, Class C and B.  
She takes out her umbrella, a small light pink foldable umbrella, and hands it to Akihisa. He takes it and opens it outside. He waited until the two of them were under the umbrella until he started walking. The umbrella wasn’t made for two people it seems as his felt his shoulder getting wet, but if it keeps the other girl dry then that’s fine. He’s suffered much worse than this. Then there’s the torture for tomorrow from the FFF inquisition. 

Meanwhile, Minami who was holding an unopened umbrella stood watching the two walking away together. Something in her heart clenched, it felt awful and it hurt. 

\-- 

The rain started to get a bit more heavier by the minute but they didn’t mind. It’s only been a good ten minutes or so since they started walking. They walked in silence and had let the sound of the rain falling accompany them. The streets weren’t empty, there were a bunch of people walking around. Most of them being the students of the academy, some were the mothers walking their children, maybe they had gone back from shopping? To be honest, the silence between them started to get uncomfortable and awkward.

However, to the latter by his side, her face was decorated with a visible pink hue on her cheeks. She thought she might faint if they continued walking in silence. The silence made her mind wander to some places and if it goes on for too long, she might even wander to some forbidden places! What was she thinking! It’s their final year together and she’s thinking about indecent stuff. 

They were supposed to be focused on studying and for the final exam and summoner’s battle. 

They were so close, they've only ever been this close was when she held onto him during the inter-year test with the third years who did the haunted house. Even then, the lights had turned off abruptly and she'd been with the class A representative, Kirishima Shouko, for the rest of the test. They’d been disqualified because she’d actually screamed that….  
“Eh? Himeji? What’s wrong? Your face looks red, do you have a fever?” Akihisa stopped to look at her face. She was holding her cheeks with her hands. Her eyes suddenly went wide when his face was close to hers. Leading to her suddenly tripping on her foot. 

Akihisa moved on reflex and caught her before she could fall. To any outsider, it looked like the scene had come straight out of a shoujo manga. The boy had his hand catching one of the girl’s, his hand on her waist and the close proximity of their bodies accidentally near each other. 

Himeji squealed in surprise, her face had lit up in red. She now resembled a tomato because of how red she was. “Geez… Himeji. You need to be more carefu--” Akihisa sent one look at her face, and went silent. Her eyes are wide, her face was red, her hair was a bit disheveled. He then realized he had his hand on her waist which wasn’t the best choice since the girl had done a terrible job at losing weight for the next summer outing, his other hand holding her other hand and the umbrella had fallen. Their actions are open for the whole world to see. That just sounded bit dirty of left out of context. 

“Hyaa--!! He- Let go of me!” she suddenly screamed. Earning a few passersby to glance. “Uwa-! Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“Yoshii Akihisa… the sole traitor of our brotherhood… You will pay for the last time!!” Sugawa suddenly emerged from afar with the rest of the FFF inquisition behind him. “Die! Die! Die!” they chanted while running towards them. 

It was Akihisa’s signal to run for his life, but he can’t just let Himeji to walk on her own now since they were so close to her house by now. Deciding it was probably best, he quickly grabbed the fallen umbrella and squeezed at her hand. She was surprised at first suddenly the hand didn’t left hers. Akihisa made a break for it while Himeji tried to catch up to him. 

\--

They were at her house in under 3 minutes, partially soaked, panting and hearts racing. Akihisa peeked from the corners to see if they’d lost the FFF inquisition. Himeji had never had her heart raced to fast like that, the fastest was when she’d been in the arms of the boy. She was getting red again just thinking about. How could she not? It only happened a few minutes ago. 

Akihisa sighed and handed her the umbrella he’d just closed. “I’m very sorry about all this, Himeji. Here, your umbrella. I’ll just run now.” he lifted his bag and placed it on his head. He stepped on foot in front before a small tug on his shirt made him stop. “Here, just use mine. It’s be bad if you caught a cold tomorrow.” 

\--

Akihisa was home not drenched in rainwater and with a pink umbrella. 

End of chapter three.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four: Dates, movies and electrocutions.

If he could, he’d cry a river right now. He’d successfully sold five of his games. Successfully doesn’t mean good! Those games where the limited edition with a free expansion pack that can let his character to gain a much higher upper hand when in battle! Without it, he’d have to return back to the tutorial level to gain back all his equipment. How cruel of Yuuji to make him do that. And by the end of the day, he’ll just end up with less money than he had when he hadn’t even sell his games!

Life is cruel… 

He checked his watch again for the fourth time since arriving. They’d said to meet 12pm, he wondered what took them so long? Did they actually played a joke on him? Was the penalty actually a lie? Uwaaaaa~! Did he actually sell of his video games for a date that won’t happen?! How could they do that to him, and after he’d spent the whole night crying about his games too! Surely, after this, he’d cry some more because he’d just been lied to by all of his friends. 

Those jerks--!

“Yo! Akihisa~!” 

Eh? Somebody’s calling him? He turned his head to see Yuuji walking with Shouko clinging to his arm. Seems like Shouko loathed the idea of her fiance to hang with his friends that much until now huh? Akihisa got up from the bench he’d been sitting on and waved at them. He felt relieved that they came but still angry that the guy made him sell his games. “I almost wanted to punch you, you know Yuuji?” 

Yuuji cocked his head to the side in confusion when he arrived in front of the idiot. “Good afternoon, Kirishima-san.” Akihisa smiled at the girl, she bowed in acknowledgement to his greeting. 

“Where’re the others?” Akihisa asked. Yuuji shrugged and silently tried to pry the girl off his arm, failing though since she had a vice like grip on his arm. He grunted in pain, “Oi, oi, oi! Shouko, don’t try to tear my arm off!” she didn’t say or do anything though. “Hey~!” from afar they saw Minami and Himeji walking up to them together. Himeji had a hop in her step as she stopped in front of Akihisa. “Did you arrive home safely yesterday?” she asked with a smile. 

Akihisa grinned at her, he nodded and reached for the umbrella he hanged on his jeans. “I did! Thanks to your umbrella. Here,” he handed her the umbrella and she gladly accepted it. 

“That’s a relief. Thank you.” she pulled open her hand bag and kept the umbrella in. 

They decided to wait for Mutsurini for a bit before Yuuji received a message from him saying he won’t be joining them because he’s busy editing some photos. “As expected of Mutsurini, to dedicate his time and energy to make sure all of Hideyoshi’s pictures are in pristine quality--Geh-!” an elbow forcefully thrusted into his side sent him tumbling far enough so that he didn’t hear Minami whisper, “Why couldn’t you have said my pictures?” while rubbing at her elbow. Akihisa whimpered in pain as he stumbled to get up. 

Just when they thought that Hideyoshi might have extra club activities with him being the president and all that, the third gendered person came jogging to them. The brunette smiled at his arrival which made the two girls jealous of Hideyoshi. The man in question had said he tried to dress in a somewhat more manlier clothing but it didn’t serve to disrupt Akihisa’s compliments about how beautiful he is instead of handsome.

“So what do we wanna do now?” Hideyoshi asked after mildly glaring a Akihisa because of his so called compliments. 

“How about we head to eat lunch first? There’s this new place which I think will be great!” Himeji suggested, clapping once. 

They had waited for almost half an hour for all of them to arrive, they didn’t even notice that it was already lunchtime. Well, it beats having to eat Himeji’s cooking. Good thing no one suggested the park to have picnic or something. They strolled over the the aforementioned cafe and settled down at a table. The cafe was a brightly lit place as the walls were made of windows and there were pastel paintings hung on most of the walls inside. The door occasionally sounded the bell when it opens and it accompanied the sound of the many people chattering, the waiter and waitresses taking everyone’s order and the silently playing cheerful music in the background. 

\--

“So, what should we do after this?” 

“I’m suggesting a movie!”

“Oh my, Himeji. Did you search all the places to go to or what?” Minami lightly elbowed her friend who looked at her latte rather sheepishly. She giggled nervously as they all smiled. “I was a bit excited to hear that we’re hanging out again this weekend so I-- you know,” she fiddled with her index fingers. “Anyways, did a new one came out?” Minami asked. 

“There’s this one called Closest love to Heaven. I hear it’s a good movie from I heard people say?” 

“Sounds nice!” 

“…Yuuji, do you wanna watch together?” Shouko asked in an icy cold tone that made most men shiver. Yuuji didn’t shiver though, it was his childhood friend his self-proclaimed fiancé. “Does it look like I have a choice? If I don’t, you’ll bust out a tazer—Why did you pull one out now?!” he yelled at he leaned backwards towards Hideyoshi unconsciously to further him from the electrocuting torture device. Hideyoshi stared in shock at his friend’s fiancé, to bring something like that to one mundane café… that’s simply too much. But not much he can do since Shouko will always get what she wants.

Especially when it comes to Yuuji.

“If you don’t watch it with me, we’re getting married immediately.”

“Uwa--!”

And if someone protested, it’ll end with the threat of marriage with Yuuji in the end.  
They all watched the two’s antics in amusement, however, when Himeji unconsciously travelled her eyes to Akihisa, it is to find him slightly grumbling. “What’s wrong, Akihisa-kun?” she asked and leaned towards him closer. “I honestly want to watch something more of a drama or action movie…” he said, moving to lift his cup to his lips.  
Hideyoshi raised his hands, “I agree with Akihisa.”

Akihisa smiled, “I mean, what’s so good about love stories anyway?” he joked but the two girls took it rather offensively from him. But when they tried to defend it, they can’t seem to utter out the words. “A love story is amazing because….” Himeji started and moved her closed hand to her mouth.

“B-Because, we get to see how two people can come to love each other and become a couple, like two pieces of puzzle… I think.” Minami shyly answered, burying her nose in her cup.

“And when we watch it tons and tons of times, it feels like we’re living in the story as well.” Himeji blushed.  
“…But I want and will make it a reality. Especially when those characters finally get married.” Shouko held up the marriage form to Yuuji’s face rather menacingly.

Akihisa altered between the two girls looking rather dreamily at their cup of drink, as if their drink had said something so sweet their eyes turned to hearts. “Eh, is that right?” Himeji and Minami nodded absentmindedly.

“Then, have you ever imagined it with yourself and some other person?”

Both of their faces suddenly went bright red at his mention. What should they say back? ‘Of course we have, and that person is you!’ No way! It wasn’t particularly their fault they secretly imagined the scenes or acted it out in their room late night in the night where the girl would be pressed up against the wall with two strong arms on either sides of their heads as the owner of those arms were leaning in to—

Or that one scene where the female would be dancing with their lover and when the song comes to an end, the both suddenly find themselves pressed up against each other and their heads were leaning in as if—

“Eh?!” Minami and Himeji squawked.

Himeji stuttered to find the words as she fiddled her thumbs. “W-Well, I—uh… y-ye-yes.”  
Minami fidgeted from one side to the other on her chair and had her head down. “I-It’s normal for a girl to dream l-like that!”

Akihisa liked the response he was getting, it’s obvious the girls were on the edge of exploding right now. All it took for just one more thing then they’d burst into a stuttering and flustered mess. He liked messing with these two girls, they always gave him unexpected reactions which he finds amusing, though, those reactions sometimes hurts… a lot.  
But what’s living a life without taking a few risks, and now he’s taking the risk of poking the two jaguars with sticks until they attack him. He smiles, “Who’s the person in your dreams?” he asked looking curious and oblivious to know that he’s the one in their dreams.

Yuuji face palmed internally and looked away from what’s about to happen as he buried his nose in his cup. Hideyoshi looked like he was depleted of all sympathy for Akihisa, that guy was doomed to end his life faster than they were by the hands of the two girls who liked him. He nonchalantly sipped on the straw in his drink as Minami and Himeji didn’t fail to get flustered again, “E-Eh?! Why would we tell you?!” they screamed.

“Idiot!! Stupid!!” Minami raised her fist and as if the bell of a wrestling match had rung, she swung her fist to his face and it instantly K.O-ed him. He was flung back from his seat, hitting the glass wall behind him and decorated with a bright red fist print on his cheek. 

Minami calmed down in her seat as she rubbed her knuckles, Himeji was sitting facing away from Akihisa but he can see from where was, both their ears were tainted in pink.  
“What’s the big deal anyway?”

“Th-The big d-deal is…”

“It’s too much for an idiot like you to understand!”

“What does that has to do with anything?!”

“It has everything to do with anything!”

“Ehh?!”

The class representatives watch their antics in mild amusement. Hideyoshi helped Akihisa up to his seat with mild sympathy. It’s been like this for almost three years so there was no surprise to him that he has to be the peacemaker in every out of control situation. “Yuuji… have you ever dreamt like that?” Shouko asked as she leaned towards him, her face was a few inches from his own but he didn’t budge. Yuuji shook his head. “Of course not. I don’t watch romantic movies like that.” Shouko sat back in her chair, a little disappointed that her own husband didn’t even think about doing a kabedon to her or anything.

Making an attempt of messing with Yuuji more, “How would you feel if I said I dreamt like that but past the kissing--”

“Woah!! I don't need to know that!”

“But we're going to get married--”

“Gahh--!!”

Something he rarely feels but this was just getting on his nerves the slightest bit, Hideyoshi tries to stop all the commotion at the table. “Hey, everyone!” he called out to them as he saw out of the corner of his peripheral vision, a woman telling something to a waiter while not so subtly pointing at them. “How about we walk around first, then we decide on what movie to see? it's Akihisa's treat after all.” he joked at gestured to the brunette who was half way through hugging him. 

Hideyoshi saved them all from getting kicked out but probably increased the wariness the staff was being, Akihisa was shedding many teardrops as he mumbles about his money flying away. 

They finish their treat in silence and small comments about sharing some of each others treats and mildly cheering up Akihisa by letting him get some of their treats. It was all his money they were using. 

\--

As they left the cafe, They had all split up to go to their own destinations. Hideyoshi mentioned something about getting a book his sister wanted while disappearing into the book store suspiciously filled with a bunch of females. Must have a sale going on. Shouko was already pulling Yuuji into a wedding dress boutique while he was flailing his arms, the collar of his shirt choking him as she pulled on it. The girls were walking with a bit of a jump in their step while pulling Akihisa with them to a feminine looking clothes shop nearby. 

Not wanting to seem strange standing with two girls by his sides in a shop full of cute, fluffy and girlish clothes, he was left standing outside while taking a gander at the clothes they had on display. He looked around the shopping mall and saw that he ultimately added another to the ‘Boyfriends/Husbands waiting outside while their Girlfriend/Wife shops inside’ group. A terribly long name as it seems. 

He then decided to lean over the railing as he was on the second floor. There were many types of people everyone can see from where he was. The mall wasn’t as big as other malls that are 6 stories tall, this one is just 4 stories tall. Still, it had a clear dome over their heads on the highest level, giving the inside a more natural lighting, the mall had all the shops you could ever imagine. Every floor was filled from top to bottom with shops, boutiques, restaurants, cafes and etc. No matter if their the same if you put a different name to each shop. The banners on top decorated and styled with pretty designs and attractive details that was only to seduce the customers to buy their products. 

People are normal here, their just consumers and people like his parents are all just feeding them and tricking them into buying more of their products. While they had innocent smiles, it was only a few. 

Like the mother, holding both her children’s hands while they jumped cheerfully and pointing at random shops, a couple was lovingly- almost to the point that it’s sickening, holding hands while looking at the cake displays. A random person was being attacked by the people promoting their products, a man was playing a beautiful piece on the display piano with a small crowd of people around him and a few group of people his age and younger lounging around at some sitting areas. 

It was rather peaceful but what was he expecting really, somebody to rob a woman in broad daylight surrounded by hundreds of people where they could get caught immediately? Not likely. 

Well, while he wasn’t expecting that, he didn’t exactly expect an obvious white head of hair next to someone rather taller than most japanese men, wearing a butler outfit. Were they who he thought? Was that… there’s no reason for Naomi to go out and buy anything since she’s always pre-prepared. She always packs things after making a whole long list. So why…?

It seemed like Naomi said something to Mamoru-san before they both turned to walk towards a shop across from where Akihisa was, a cutlery and kitchen shop? Did the apartment she was living in didn’t supply… 

“Akihisa?” 

He saw her mouthed his name and he jumped, startled at the sudden eye contact. He meekly waved at her while she and Mamoru-san moved to walk to his side. They traveled from across the floor and greeted him with a small smile. Something about seeing her in casual clothes did something to him. It’s been so long since he’s seen her in a more comfortable clothing so seeing her outside of school was a big surprise. It made his heart did a small jump every two seconds. He’s never felt like this when he was with other girls like Himeji, Minami, nor with Kirishima-san or Yuuko or even Aiko. 

Sure he gets nosebleeds from two of the other five, but those were all just acting. 

“What are you doing here? I expected you to already have all your stuff pre-packed?”

“I’m just buying some stuff for the kitchen and other things to decorate the apartment. Some of the stuff they prepared didn’t fit Mamoru-san’s bill.” 

She gestured to her butler who was smiling sheepishly. He was the kind of butler who was immensely loyal, kind and always ready to help. One of his amazing abilities was that he can cook up anything and made everyone drool at the meer smell of his cooking. He scratched the back of his head and proceeded to bow to Akihisa. “Good afternoon, master Akihisa. How are you?” though he has amazing abilities, he did take a lot of lessons perfecting them so when he heard he was going to fly and accompany Naomi to Japan he only learned the basics of japanese. Learning just a few phrases was all he could do in only two weeks. He didn’t have a lot of time, being the head butler and all. So, it was understandable that he greeted him in english, which might startle some nearby people suddenly hearing a foreign language. 

“I’m good, thank you.” he smiled and the butler smiled back.

Though, he was a mix between asian and european, he’ still taller than most men around here. “What are you doing here?” she asks in return. 

“I-I’m just hanging out with my friends. You’ve already met them right?”

She nodded though she didn’t look very convinced his friends are here since he’s here all alone. He looked around and saw all the shops his friends went in. Though he could understand why they were taking so long, Kirishima-san and Yuuji were both in the wedding dress boutique and he’s probably forced to help her change and hear some comments and the like. He’d almost want to praise Yuuji for being able to stand her behaviour since they were children. He knew not long after this, he didn’t know how long but he will eventually tell her the truth about his feelings about her. 

Hideyoshi was picking up a book for his sister which in his memory, he remembered her being quite the avid fan of the BL genre though she hides it. The book store was having a sale on some books on display and if he saw it correctly, the same book his sister wanted was on the display. He’d have to experience some pushing and shoving and shouting before getting the desired book. He pitied him to have a sister like that. 

Though he wasn’t much worst, his was way worse. 

The girls were in the shop he was standing in front of, he can see from here that they were still gushing over a particular outfit. 

“Do you wish to join them, Mistress?” Mamoru-san asked in the midst of the silence he was scanning his friends. Naomi was a tad surprised at his suggestion. “Join them?” 

“Why? You don’t have anything scheduled today.” he reasoned. Akihisa watched in amusement as she tried to come up with an excuse. Mamoru-san was smart, he knew what to say in order to convince Naomi and he knew her like a granddaughter already. “I just think I might be intruding is all.” she tried. 

“Nonsense, here. I’ll deliver these back and I won’t take no for an answer.” he quickly took the bags Naomi was holding and walked towards the escalator. He waved goodbye at them and smiled at his Mistress’s startled face. 

Mamoru-san never changed from when he was five years ago. Akihisa smiled and turned to look at Naomi. Now that he got a better look at her, she’s changed quite a lot since the last time he’s seen her. He almost felt guilty when he’d decided to leave her alone all those years. She’d been waiting for so long and he himself decided to cut everyone from his past. 

The both of them talk about some mundane things from how the class A’s students are treating Naomi; “The guys keep trying to talk to me and it’s weird that they keep complimenting me.” 

“Is that so?” Akihisa was gritting his teeth and imagined what kinds of furniture he’d be able to make with their bones after he killed them. 

To how Naomi’s life was like in the five years they’ve been apart. Not much different really except the small feeling of something missing. She didn’t let it get to her while she’s working and all that because she needed to keep a face. But at night, accompanied by Mamoru-san by her bedside she weeped on her bed surrounded by pillows and looked at the photos when they were a child in an album her mother had the time to make. Naomi knew Akihisa didn’t mean to leave her so she wasn’t as angry as she was when in the early days he’d gone missing. Now, she wasn’t even mad, she’s just glad that he’s safe, happy, mildly starving himself and fine. 

She did worried about how her mission is going to advance since she herself started to feel a bit comfortable living as a high school student in Japan. She’ll think about it later. 

Hideyoshi watched them from afar. He’d just gone out of the hell of a bookstore and quickly hid behind a wall while observing the two teens over by the railings with utmost curiosity. The two never failed to surprise them, as Akihisa keeps denying of knowing the new girl but whenever they’re around together, they banter like old friends and stand unusually close to each other. 

But what should he do now? He can’t just enter their conversation so suddenly, it’ll be awkward. It’s not like he’s scared or anything like that,he’s scared of the girl, but it would be rude to interrupt them in a what seems like a happy light banter. Should he just wait for the others to come or should he just wait, but he can’t just wait behind the wall… okay, he should stop looking suspicious, hiding behind a wall. ‘I think I saw some girls looking at me weirdly, either they’re weirded out by my actions or their confused by my gender.’ 

\--

Meanwhile, inside the shop, the two girls are taking their time picking some clothes with the thought of a particular boy complimenting them. “How do I look?” Himeji stood in front of the fitting room, timidly holding the skirt under the gaze if her friend. Minami smiled, “You look amazing! How does it fit?” she asked out of curiosity. Himeji blushed and chuckled shyly, “Well… my chest feels a little bit tight in this.” Minami felt like ripping all of her hair from her head, her cup size hasn’t been growing at all, save for a few centimeters! This is humiliating, her body feels like a middle schooler. 

As if the comment was the last straw, she dropped down and slumped on the floor. Already felt like giving up, “Geez… this isn’t fair at all. You have such a mature body and here I am in the same cup size as when I was in middle school...” she whined and hugged her knees to her chest, her trademark ribbon drooped down as if sulking like it's owner. 

Himeji dropped down to her friend’s side and balled her fists to her chest. “Hey, forget your body, it’s what your personality defines you.” she encouraged her. 

“Easy for you to say,you have a body of a supermodel and a brain of a genius. I only know how to read most of the kanji but my only strong point is still math.”

“Don’t say that! You have many good traits that I don’t. Like how you’re not afraid, how Akihisa-kun doesn’t have to fret over you because you’re strong and you’re more than suitable for him than me.”

Minami looked wide eyed at her friend, did she really just say that? “What are you talking about? You’re nice, smart and big hearted! You’re just as brave as me and you so full of life that it kinda makes me jealous.” she confessed. 

Over the years, she and her have been competing with and helping each other to win the heart of their crush but whenever they do, they just keep sabotaging their own plans by themselves. It’s like a curse, they’re too afraid to lose him to the other but at the same time they want to help each other little by little. Their kindness has made them best friends as well as their competitiveness has made them rivals. But each and every time, only has the boy they loved seen them as friends. 

“You shouldn’t be. Being jealous only makes you want to give up! That’s what I always tell myself to feel more motivated when… When I see you.” 

“Why would you feel jealous of me?”

“B-Because! You’re so brave, you’re bright and you don’t waste a second if you want to talk to Akihisa whilst I have to gather up enough courage before I can even do what you can.” she gripped on her skirt, not looking at the redhead. 

Minami smiled small at her friend, how can she be so oblivious to what she has. She is more than what Minami is. All of her words only grew to make the jealousy burn bigger. Why did she even try anymore? Her friend had an even higher chance than her with him. She’s smart, she’s kind, she’s beautiful, all that of what Minami isn’t. She kept reminding herself this but she can’t help but try.

“Miss? Are you two finding everything okay here?” 

A saleswoman walked up to them with a concerned smile as if she had been observing the tension between the two girls grew and grew more thicker by the second. As if her words were enough to bring them back to reality, they soon pretended to forget what happened earlier and plastered a smile to the woman and showed them their clothes. “We’re fine! I’m sure we’ll be at the cashier in a minute!” Minami smiled and held Himeji close to her as if nothing happened. The other decided to play along. 

“That’s great! Let me know if you have any more problems about anything.” the woman left and proceeded to help any other customer in the shop. 

The german decided to turn away immediately after the saleswoman left and hanged the outfit she was holding and skimmed through the others. Himeji took the sign and went to change into her own clothes. She was thinking about a lot of things now. She recalled for second of events that happened when Himeji and Akihisa walked together in the rain. Himeji had gushed it over her to get it off her chest as she told her story. 

The more she listened, the more she thinks that Akihisa will ever see her as more than a friend. He had been happy when Himeji had lend her umbrella for him and they even shared it. Imagine, walking for a few minutes just centimeters away from your crush, any girl would’ve loved that dream. It sounded so sweet as she told her story to Minami and it’d looked like what a boyfriend would do to his girlfriend. The fall, she means. 

He caught her in just the nick of time before she embarrassingly fell to the ground. The sensation of feeling his warm calloused hand on your waist and the other holding your hand. Faces were inches apart too. 

Minami gripped on one of the hanger and furrowed her brows, suddenly stopped browsing the clothes and stared at them like they insulted her.

“I wish Akihisa would hold my hand...” she muttered to herself. 

“What was that?” Himeji suddenly appeared at her side, making her jump. 

“E-Eh? Nothing, n-nothing!” she stuttered and waved her hands. 

“If you say so, then are we ready to pay?” she asked. 

Minami nodded and showed her the clothes she’d decided on. “Aki would probably think we’d burn a hole in his pocket considering we took a long time to pick.” she joked with her friend and they chuckled. “Right?” 

The girls soon started to walk to the aforementioned boy and hoped that he’d complimented the clothes they had picked. When they abruptly stopped to find him talking to a girl with hair white as pure snow. That head of hair seemed familiar. The girl’s back were facing them so they weren’t able to tell but when they saw Akihisa laughing with the girl, they immediately marched over to the teen. 

Minami latched onto his arm as Himeji jumped to his side and stood a little bit too close for comfort. If this were an animal documentary, you could say that the two lioness were marking their territory on their lion from the opposing one. The girl they soon recognized turned out to be Naomi from class A to which they instantly turned on their protective switch. 

“We're ready to pay, Akihisa-kun!” Himeji said in a cheerful tone. 

“Uwa-! Minami, Himeji! Took you long enough, what clothes did you pick?”

“Some cute ones of course, Aki!”

“Ah, if that's the case then Minami's is probably from the kid's section righ-- Ack!”

Minami, without a second thought, wrapped her arms around his middle, locking them tight and without wasting a second for the idiot to react, she flipped him over and successfully did a perfect German suplex. Akihisa was sputtering in shock and pain as his arms and legs were both frozen and there was steam coming out of his head. She flipped him over so hard that the ground had cracked just a little bit. 

Naomi was impressed, the girl looked lanky but she has the strength of a bear. She’d definitely picked her as her sparring partner if they were friends and if she was interested of course. “What the hell does that supposed to mean?!” she yelled and gripped on his middle tighter. 

“Geh-! I mean if that your chest is a bit too small to fit in some of the clothes-- ow, Ow, OW!!! You’re crushing my ribs, Minami!!” he screamed in agony as the girl tightened her lock onto his middle. 

“And I think your brain is too small for your head!” she yelled and grunted as she let go of his body after an audible crack sounded from his own ribs.

If she wasn’t so focused on making sure Akihisa might not be able to even see again, she might realise that this move involved in her hugging him. Before flipping him over of course. Himeji stood beside her as if this doesn’t bother her and it was just a normal occurrence. Maybe it was?

“Tsukiko?” a quiet voice sounded from behind her, Shouko appeared. And behind her, she was dragging an unconscious, red faced and electrocuted class F representative while the girl was sporting a happy and cheery vibe around her. 

“Kirishima-... san, what is… that?” she wasn’t even sure that the human behind her was even human anymore. 

"My future husband." she said with a small smile and a hand to her cheek. She glanced back at the being behind her and sent a confused stare at him before casting a glance at Akihisa, mouthing the words, 'Is this even normal?'. He nodded and went to his friend's side. "Is... Is he even... Alive?" the man in question let out a puff of smoke from his mouth after a small grunt sounded from him. Well, at least he was somewhat alive.

But then, a simple phrase suddenly rang in her mind. 'Future husband?' Naomi glanced at Akihisa who was poking Yuuji with his index finger, as if searching for any other signs of life from the man. she smiled.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five: Movies ll, Trust and Secrets unfold!

The local cinema in the shopping district showed almost all kinds of movies ranging from live action movies from anime adaptations to dramatic action packed adventure to horror mystery thriller to romantic comedy to anime movies and finally psychological supernaturals. The cinema was packed and only a few movies had enough seatings for the six of them and Naomi. 

Hideyoshi and the girls were waiting in line while discussing what movies to watch while Akihisa and Yuuji sat at a nearby bench. Naomi was the book shop next to the cinema and said she needed a reference book for some of the subjects, ‘She probably won’t take long.’ Akihisa thought while he stared at the girls and Hideyoshi slowly moving in line to buy the tickets. On top of the ticket counter was the board telling how many movies were available and slowly with every person that just got their ticket, the movies were labeled full. 

“She made me change with her in the same fitting room and tried to harass me many times whenever I say just a tiny compliment.” Yuuji let out a long sigh and hung his head on the edge of the bench. His demeanor showed how tired he was just as he was even lazy to sit up right on the bench. 

“Man, that sounds like a pain. But why did you get electrocuted?” he asked. 

Yuuji sighed again, a little bit harder this time. “Every time I go talk to the woman in charge of her fitting, she electrocutes me saying ‘I should be looking at her’. Geez…” he scratched the back of his head, then cracked his neck side to side. 

Akihisa laughed at his friend’s misery. They sat in comfortable silence while waiting for the rest of them to get the tickets. That is, until the redhead suddenly yanked his friend down to slouch on the bench and their faces were inches away. They couldn’t look even more suspicious suddenly huddling up in the middle of the cinema. “Ack--! What the hell?! Do you want to break my neck or something?!” he yelled and felt a slight pain in the place his friend’s hand was holding. 

“I hope you don’t mind but what’s Tsukiko doing here?” he asked and sent a careful look at the bookstore. 

Oh, this again. “Hm? Oh, we met up when I was waiting for the girls.” Akihisa replied normally as if there isn’t a million questions running through Yuuji’s head. “Yeah-- okay, but what’s she doing here?” he asked to further send clues to his idiot friend. 

“Um… she’s coming to watch a movie with us?” 

“Akihisa, you fucking idiot. What I mean is, what is she doing here.” he gritted his teeth while saying. “What’s wrong with her watching a movie together with all of us?” he asked all too innocently. He’s never going to get any answers from this idiot if he keeps playing the dumb card… That’s right! He’s been focusing so much on getting answers out of Akihisa that he never even thought of the other class A person here with them. But to do so, he’d have to get him and Shouko alone or he idiot will listen to their conversation. “Nevermind.” 

Akihisa didn’t seem convince over his lack of conviction on the matter and wanted to press more into the question. He dropped the topic all too quickly, he’s thought of something, the brunette theorized. “Why do you say that? Tell me!” he whined, making it seem like he didn’t caught onto anything. 

“That girl has ulterior motives and I know it, we don’t know anything about her but we’ll find out sooner or later in a summoners battle.” he said with a hand on his chin. He then moved to cross his arms and stood up. “Her relationship with you is... suspicious but considering how famous your name is as the number one idiot student, she’s bound to think to use you one way or another.” he deducted, turning to face said idiot who had a confused and very concealed raged look on his face. “That’s why, we’re trying to figure out a way to protect you and not let her get her hands on you.” he finished and held out a hand for Akihisa to take. 

All the things Yuuji said, those were his deductions and assumptions based on her actions, obvious facts and his beliefs and possibly all his other friends too. He mustn’t get mad at them for trying to protect him from a non-existent threat but all those things Yuuji said about his very own childhood friend and fiance, boiled his blood just a little bit. He slapped the offending hand away from his direction and stood up, “Use me? What are you talking about?” 

“The girl who just transferred here suddenly has her eyes on you, she’s a class A student and you’re the number one idiot in the entire school! It’s obvious enough!” he raised his voice but not too loud to attract unwanted attention. 

He got him there. “She’s just a genuine friend!” 

“Nobody from class A and class F are just friends without any ulterior motives. The Kinoshita twins are an exception because they’re siblings while Shouko is trying to obliterate me.”

“I consider Kirishima-san and Kinoshita-san as my friend! Kubo-kun too! And Kudou-san and Saitou-san, even though I’ve only ever talked to her a few times…” he contemplated. True he only ever called them friends because he’s naive like that. Any friend’s friend is his friend, as he’d always thought an idiot would think. Yuuji sighed and face palmed his face. “That’s because you’re an idiot, that’s also the reason why people never take you seriously and why they take advantage of you. You let people trample all over you and you protest but you never do mean it.” 

Akihisa mentally shook his head, the things Yuuji is saying are all true and it’s frustrating him. 

“So, that’s why I can’t quickly trust this mysterious girl--” he attempted to end his conversation but was cut off by Shouko appearing at his side so suddenly with two tickets. 

“Yuuji… watch this… with me.” she said cool and calm as ice. Yuuji jumped, startled by her presence. He didn’t have any time to retaliate to her demand as he was dragged by his collar again to the hall showing the movie. He flailed his arms and tried to scream for help but all the other people there ignored him and snickered at him. He snuck a glance at Akihisa who stood beside Naomi, giving him a blank face. 

\--

How did Yuuji even thought of something like that? I mean sure, a class A student suddenly having a close relationship with a class F student was a bit sketchy but to conclude that the first party was using the other was a bit too far. He guessed it’d make a little bit sense but still… This was all suddenly becoming his childhood again. Distrust was falling in between them and he didn’t want that but the feeling had started to appear. 

He stood with a blank expression as his friend was swept away by the class A representative. He didn’t even notice that Naomi was standing beside him with a plastic bag in hand. “What happened?” she asked. 

Akihisa turned to look at her and his eyes traveled to the plastic bag. “What’s that?” he evaded the question. “A book on Japanese History. You didn’t answer my question.” 

He sighed. “Yuuji doesn’t trust you. He doesn’t believe you’re just my friend because we’re friends.” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I knew I was intruding, I’ll just leave.” she looked at the floor and then turned on her heel to leave before a hand grabbed her wrist right before she took another step. “You’re not intruding, they’re just a bit protective of their friends.” he protested. She turned to look at him and sighed. It feels as though her arrival made something in these friends spark. A feeling that has not ever surfaced in a while or ever. She fears that in a while longer, the connection between these friends will soon break and she didn’t want that. 

Naomi felt like the right thing to do was to leave him alone with his friends and not let any suspicion rise up between them but at the same time the same guy and herself wanted them both to join in on the fun together. “Your friends really love you and I can’t bear to see you guys splitting up because of me.” she said, sadly. This was turning into a sad day. 

“What? I--” 

“You guys!”

The two turned to look at the girls and Hideyoshi jogging towards them. “The line was extremely long but Kirishima-san somehow made all the men let her through leaving us behind.” Himeji looked around the theater to find the two class rep before Hideyoshi pat her shoulder. “She bought a pair of tickets for her and Yuuji and went ahead.” he said. 

Akihisa perked up, “Eh? She bought her own tickets? Uwa-! Thanks so much, Kirishima-san!” Akihisa went to his knees and thanked the Gods above for not making him pay for their tickets, dramatically. 

Himeji and Minami fidgeted in front of Akihisa and showed him his ticket. “Aki, let’s watch this one okay? It’s the most popular one on the board and we waited so long to buy it.” Minami cooed at him. “Y-Yeah, it’d be a waste if we didn’t watch it at least once since we have time.”

He looked at the ticket and internally grimaced. It was a romantic movie, the one where all the couples would go and the room would be filled with floating hearts over a pair of people. He can already see what’s going to happen already, he’d have no choice but to watch the movie with them and they’d try to squeeze him in the middle of them and they’d try to advance on him like suddenly resting their heads on his shoulder when there was a romantic or cute scene, ‘accidentally’ holding his hand in the middle of reaching for a piece of popcorn and edging closer to him in the middle of a kissing scene. The theater was dark and nobody would be able to see it, unless there was an FFF inquisition somewhere nearby and attacked him. Honestly, he didn’t know if he would rather watch the movie or be attacked by the FFF inquisition. 

“What about you, Hideyoshi?” Akihisa turned to the she-male and said she-male looked startled. “E-Eh? Oh, I just wanted to see this one drama to help me in my next play.” he gave Akihisa his ticket a look and it was an old historian movie. “I think I’ll go see the historian movie with Kinoshita-kun here.” Naomi raised her hand and pushed Akihisa lightly towards the girls. 

Akihisa turned to look at the girl in confusion and shock before two hands grabbed both his wrists and started pulling him to the hall. He shivered in fear internally before giving in. ‘Curse you, Naomi!’ he screamed and felt a bead of tear fall down his face. 

“You- wait, what?” Hideyoshi stuttered. 

“I have to write a report on the history of Naoe Kanetsugu for an assignment.” she explained and took out a ticket from her purse. She nudged her head towards the hall showing the movie, telling him to go with her as she went ahead. 

Hideyoshi was left standing behind in confusion. Until a sign had lit up indicating that the movie was starting that he moved his feet to follow the girl. 

\--

Spring had come and gone just like that. It only felt like it was spring when people look at the cherry blossom trees and the blooming flowers around them giving off a sweet scent. Spring in Japan wasn’t like in London which was all gloomy even though the sun was out. Most people there had allergies to the pollens everywhere so not many people go out without a mask on and some glasses but here, though there are a few people like that, the scenery around was what was breathtaking. 

The flowers all around, a week ago they were only tight little buds until they bloomed just a mere day ago. They flushed in their unique colours in the sun as the sky was of a beautiful blue hue with little to no clouds in the sky. The winter would still be in force a few weeks ago but already spring had pushed it back to moderate temperatures and the kind of gentle breeze you don't notice unless you stop and be present in the moment.

Akihisa stretched his fingers to pat away the falling petals on his head easily. Nature weirdly has its way to somehow blow the cherry blossom petals on everyone’s head. The reason that everyone somehow had at least one petal in their hair is because class F and class E were having p.e together. 

For awhile now, the teachers have been cramming note into their students books and the students were cramming notes in their head for the upcoming test that they currently had just passed just a day ago. 

Since it was after a test, the teachers had decided to let the students get a little rest. 

“It’s nice to be outside once in a while, right?” Hideyoshi said as he sat hugging his knees to his chest. It’s the third and final year of his high school life so the teachers finally gave in and believed him, thus putting him in with the boys. Hideyoshi was ecstatic to finally have p.e with his own gender and to finally wear the male uniform. 

Yuuji hummed in agreement, “It’s been forever since we left that dusty old classroom.” he stretched and fell back on the grass behind him. 

“With us being seniors now, tests and exams are gonna come at us like a bullet train. I’ve no time to play any of my video games!” Akihisa whined as he plucked the petals from the small flower he was holding. “Well, now you can sell your video games to afford real food since you can’t play with them right?” Yuuji said nonchalantly as he opened one eye to sneak a peek at his friend. The other turned to him like he had grown a second head, “Are you insane?! Those games I spent hours to level up and defeat the boss after almost 159 tries! You want me to sell them?!” he yelled in his ears which he winced and turned to lie on his side, letting his back face the idiot. 

Hideyoshi chuckled. “What about last time where you sold your games to afford treating us?” he asked and tilted his head. 

“I sold my old games which were the ones that were impossible to complete and made me lose my sanity.” he explained and sighed. He invested a lot of time and money on those games too, why had the creators made a game where you can’t even clear the second last level anyways? People are gonna get mad and strike a fight with the game stores employees even though it’s not their fault. Hideyoshi nodded in acknowledgement, not in understandment though. 

Akihisa scanned around the field and saw the many guys from class E and half of the guys in class F scattered around the field talking and chatting with each other while the others had chose a good spot under the shade of a big tree to play their PSP. The teacher has asked one of them to help him get some equipment for today’s activities so that would explain the uncontrolled atmosphere around half of the field while the girls were separated on the other side of the field. 

‘This would be the perfect time for the famous Mutsurini to bust out his camera but he wan nowhere to be found’ Akihisa thought, he scanned the field again and saw no signs of the ninja pervert anywhere. 

“If you’re looking for Mutsurini, he’s in those bushes there.” Hideyoshi pointed out at the bushes near the girls. “Uwa--! So sneaky! As expected of Mutsurini! He’d never pass up this golden opportunity.” Akihisa stared at the ninja pervert slowly inching closer to the girls who were stretching, corresponding to the teacher with them. Taking perfect shots in low angles at the right positions. 

Akihisa saw him almost bursting out in a nosebleed when the teacher and the girls had stretched down to reach their toes while keeping their legs straight. “That’s a nice improvement.” he muttered. 

“Okay now boys! Listen up!” the teacher called for them. 

“We’ll first separate you lot into four teams since class F has a lot of guys. And since class E has a lot of athletes, I expect you lot to teach a thing or two to them and not rip them to shreds. Then 5 laps around our half of the field and then we can play soccer. Understood?!” he yelled and received a chorus mixture of enthusiastic and bored agreements. 

\--

Already their third lap and Akihisa can feel the slight burn in his muscles. He’s helped a lot of teachers lately, surely that has some benefits to it right? Maybe it’s because he’s spent all of his free time in his room playing video games and other times in classroom where he puts little to no effort to write down the notes. Well, unless it’s Tetsujin’s class, then he’d put in some effort to write down some notes. 

The brunette looked around the field and saw the boys have dissolved from a full three lines running at the same time to a long line covering half the outlines of the field from the actual people who’s putting energy in running the 5 laps for exercise to the ones just jogging sluggishly at the back. Thankfully, he wasn’t in as bad shape as them so he ran alongside Yuuji and Hideyoshi. 

Wait, where was Mutsurini--

“Holy shit! Some guy just had a massive nosebleed here!” someone shouted at the front. 

There he is. “Mutsurini! What happened?!” Akihisa, dramatically, slid to his knees beside the ninja pervert’s head and cradled him on his knees. Mutsurini, who was twitching from the sudden blood loss, raised his hand to point at the girls, weakly. 

“The culprits were the girls.” Yuuji stated as he looked at where the girls were at. Akihisa turned to look at what had caused his friend to faint when he himself got a massive nosebleed, similar to his friend’s. 

The scene was harrowing but beautiful, it was almost too bright to even see! The majestic picture of the girls running in one place, their bare legs glistening in the sun enough to make a prepubescent kid go red as the girl’s bloomers only went to half of their thighs. The ones with long hair had them tied up, some into a bun and some into a generic ponytail, doing so, the nape of their necks were bare for all the world to see. 

But the worst thing, the worst thing in this whole ordeal. Are their bouncing fronts. No matter how secure those sports bra is said to be, none can really hold the whole package. Especially ones that are well enough obviously the C to D cups. That was the final flag to meet their end. 

Both Akihisa and Mutsurini twitched in shock as some of the other guys too fell to the ground as some did their best to ignore the feast for their eyes. The rest had finished the 5 laps when the brunette and raven haired had finally gathered enough energy to sit up and wipe all the excess blood from their noses. “As expected of the girls, nothing can beat a guy’s desires than a beautiful scene like that.” Mutsurini said, although he said it as if it was a defeat. 

“Especially for the girls in our class, Himeji really attracted a lot of attention unlike Minami who’s flat as a-- Geh!” he was cut short by a frisbee hitting him square in the adam’s apple, ultimately losing consciousness. Yuuji sighed at his friend. He never failed to have at least one of the girls to hit him square in the jaw, stomach or even bend him backwards. 

Meanwhile on the other side of the field, Himeji looked troubled as she looked at where the frisbee had gone. “Minami, be careful! What if that frisbee had hit someone?” she worried and scanned the field to see if anyone got hit. Minami laughed, “Don’t worry about it, it’s not like it hit anyone important. I was just practising my aim.” she rolled her shoulders and turned to pull her friend towards where all the girls were grouping. 

\--

The class rep of class F and the silent ninja meet beside a staircase not far from the field but out of far sight so that they could talk with no one listening. Yuuji had been leaning against a wall while Mutsurini had set up his laptop. “So, what did you want to talk about?” he asked. He’d come here with the other as he said there was something he needed to see. He didn’t specify what but the look on his eyes were different from when he’s talking about pervy photos. 

The sound of the guys and girls outside had drown out their presence and it was just the two of them there. Mutsurini looked at Yuuji carefully until he showed him his laptop. “I’ve done a bit of research and there’s some surprising things you-- no, we should all know.” 

Something they should all know? What did he meant? “What do you mean?” 

“It’s about Akihisa.” 

The guy that’s been suddenly acting strange ever since the girl had transferred to this school. 

“What about him?” 

Mutsurini took a deep breath and opened the last tab he opened. “While I was editing photos of Hideyoshi, I noticed that the brand on my camera had Tsukiko's middle name as the company branch. So I did a bit of curious research on her middle name and look what I found.” he showed his laptop to the redhead and his eyes widened. “Woah… These are...” he was at lost for words. The information laid out in front of him exceeded his expectations of the girl. He knew that most people in class A were rich folks like Shouko but this was on a whole new level. 

“Apparently, she's the daughter of the Alexandre company and the actual heir to inherit the company. She was supposed to be in her third year of university by now but it was delayed.” he pointed at one of the article showing her posing in a chair holding a book. 

“University? She’s only a third year, though?” 

“In the article, it says that Tsukiko has the intelligence of a high school student at the age of 8 and had gathered a lot of attention from the media, which resulted in her being a bit of a celebrity in London.”

“That’s amazing...”

Yuuji stared in awe at the tens of pictures of Naomi on the web his friend managed to find. All of which were indeed from the London newspaper. She entered high school and immediately went into the seniors course no questions asked. She wasn’t bullied at all for being younger than all of the people there and had graduated high school at the age of 15. Since then, she’s been going on business trips and working as an intern at several companies to know what she’d be in charge of in the future until her acceptance letter from the university she applied arrived in her hands. 

“Though, it didn’t say why her attendance to university classes were delayed anywhere.” Mutsurini scrolled down the page and the both of them didn’t find anything close. 

The page only said that the family had been quiet all of a sudden in the media and not a single person had known what happened. “That’s not all, her father, a famous CEO of several big companies, has been a long business partner to another company and were said to be very close friends in personal terms. That other company, is called the ‘Yoshii Branch’.”

That… can’t be at all. Yoshii? It’s almost impossible, connecting this type of information to him would be stupid so the likeliness for it to be true are slim as a hair. Yuuji looked at Mutsurini for any signs of saying ‘that’s not what I meant’ or something but the expression on his face were the opposite of what he’d wanted. 

“I wasn’t really all that sure if it’s our Akihisa but then I found… this.” he opened a new tab and it showed two full grown adults in their late 30s behind one young girl with short dark brown hair and beautiful eyes next to a much younger boy with light brown hair. The boy awfully has the same face as the same idiot in their minds. 

They didn’t really want to believe it until they read more into the page and felt a mixture of feelings inside them. In the page, it showed a man by the name of Yoshii Takahiro and a woman by the name of Yoshii Chieko. Both were internationally famous as a CEO of most big companies known all over the world and a brilliant author as well as a professor at the University of Harvard respectively. 

The two children in the photo were who they assumed it to be but not expected it to was Akihisa’s big sister, Yoshii Akira. In the photo, she was 13 and was already attending the second year of high school. She had the same features as she had the last time they’d seen her but with a more mature body. Akira was the star in the family as she had the most academic achievements at her age and gained a lot of attention from the media. 

Finally, the small and petite boy right beside her, holding her hand and sported a blank face was Yoshii Akihisa.

This can’t be true. An unfunny joke like this shouldn’t be on the internet and it should not have billions of views. They both well know their friend up until now and for sure, they knew what kind of person he was and not at all like how this article had described him as. It was all lies, Yuuji wanted to believe but the professional looking writing and how the pictures were all so real that it couldn’t have been photoshopped said otherwise. 

The information in front of them made it difficult to believe that is their friend really what they thought he was?

The tension soon broke between them as the boy in question had popped his head from the corner and called out to them. “Yuuji? Mutsurini? What are you two doing here?” he asked, oblivious to the thoughts that were bombarding the other two’s mind. 

Mutsurini in a startled state, he fumbled to close his laptop and hid the evidence of their secret conversation. The raven haired stayed quiet and shifted his eyes from Yuuji to the ground. Waiting for the class rep to break to uncomfortable silence. Akihisa’s question still hangs unanswered. 

“What’s wrong? You guys are weirdly quiet.” he voiced his suspicion on the two. 

“We were just discussing some minor details on how to sell Mutsurini’s photos without being caught.” Yuuji finally answered. “You know, Kirishima-san will have your head if she finds out.” Akihisa said in concern. 

Yuuji shook his head and smiled. “Whatever. Let’s go, Mutsurini. Ooshima-sensei is gonna get mad, you know that guy has a personal grudge on you right?” 

Mutsurini nodded and he hesitated on leaving Akihisa alone behind the stairs. But he left anyway.

\--

Why had Tsuchiya had to go and search everything he’s trying to hide. It had been going so well too, his new life, his new friends he’d bonded with and had a genuine connection to. Akihisa had hoped that the two of them didn’t actually believe what they’d read but something is telling him that it wasn’t going to be like that. They’ve been friends for how long now and surely, they wouldn’t believe what some people wrote on the internet because the idea and image of him being smart doesn’t fit the picture at all. 

He knew what website they’d read because he’s seen it a million times when an interviewer showed to him before asking any question and he knew what they’d seen. God, he just wished he could erase all information and memories of him from the past so he could move on with his new life but it seemed like it won’t be that easy. 

Moving his feet to go back to the field, he wished they won’t pry into the information they read and ask him about it, though the chances of that happening are a bit slim. He was about to be on the field until he heard light footsteps from around the corner. As if on reflex, he moved fast to catch those footsteps but as he turned a corner, the owner of said footsteps wasn’t there. He contemplated whether it was his imagination but it didn’t hurt to be curious once in a while. 

But what they might’ve heard and or seen… it could cost him. 

To be continued.


	6. Chapter 6

_ Chapter six: Trust ll, Misunderstandings and Dinner. _

 

Most of the students in class usually stayed back after class ended and for some, it was to attend club activities and for others, it was to clean their classroom and school. Half of the students in class F had bothered to stay back and worked together to clean their dirty, dusty and worn out classroom. Akihisa and Hideyoshi were two of the few who stayed. 

Yuuji had to go home and help his family clean and decorate the house because it was his grandmother’s birthday, Mutsurini had to edit more of his photos and settle his own work privately, Minami had to go home and help her sister with her school project and Himeji was excused because of her allergies towards dust and such. “I’m very sorry I can’t help you all.” Himeji apologized as she bowed sincerely towards the guys in the classroom. 

“Don’t worry about it Himeji. We can perfectly handle it.” Hideyoshi comforted the girl as she raised her head and nodded. 

“In return, I’ll cook something for lunch to thank all of you, okay?” she suggested with a smile.

All of the guys shivered as they remembered her cooking that was as poisonous as cyanide and shook their heads. “I-It’s okay, Himeji. You’re better off giving your cooking to the military as weapons.” Akihisa pushed the girl away and didn’t let her think too much on his comment. It was okay though since she looked like she didn’t understand what he meant but the other guys in class probably thanked him for that.

\--

Hideyoshi has come to terms that Akihisa has a skill of cooking  _ and  _ cleaning. It wasn’t really that much of a surprise as Akihisa has lived alone for most of his life but the way he cleans makes it look so easy. The once dirty as an abandoned warehouse classroom was now a semi-decent room to actually study in. Akihisa was sweeping the floor when Hideyoshi leaned on the broom in tiredness next to him. “Akihisa, the way you clean looks like it’s not tiring at all.” he whined.

The brunette chuckled as his sweeping stopped for a moment. “I learned that I actually can’t function in a messy place so I made an effort to clean at least once in a while.”

“To be honest, you’d be a perfect stay at home husband.”

“Eh~?! Am I only good for cleaning?”

“And cooking!”

Akihisa dropped to the floor, “Somehow, that doesn’t soothe my fresh wounds as a man...” he weeped and a trail of tears, much like a river, appeared in the classroom and streamed out of the place. “But it’s true though.” Hideyoshi attempted to comfort the brunette lying on the floor with little sympathy.

“It’d be great if Hideyoshi were my wife… Coming home to Hideyoshi in a frilly apron, welcoming me back from work.” Akihisa mumbled and his devastated expression turned into a more dreamy one. Suddenly in his mind, he’s picturing himself dressed in a frilly apron with nothing underneath except for a pair of panties welcoming Akihisa coming back from his hypothetical ‘work’.

_ “Welcome home, do you want to take a bath? Dinner?” _

_ He starts to take off the apron. “Or perhaps, me?”-- _

“Okay, okay! How many times do I have to tell you?! I’m a guy!”

His protest came unheard as most of the boys in the classroom has a trail of blood underneath their noses. God damn it! This was all Akihisa’s fault! It’s good when the teacher had let him play on the guys side of the field during p.e but when left to their imaginations, it was all back to normal. He started sweeping the floor again and let the guys calm down their imaginations and their hormones that he spoke to Akihisa again, who was well on his way to dust the blackboard eraser. “I’d be too busy anyway to even welcome anybody home.” he muttered.

Luckily, Akihisa heard his muttering and the conversation continued again. “Busy? With what?”

“Well, I wanna continue acting in the future so I might not be free all the time.”

That’s right. He’s already decided on his future but the cost of acting he believes are time, energy and talent. He’s saying this beforehand so that at least one of his friends would know why he hasn’t been hanging out with them from now. He’s sure that all the others have their life sorted out by now and are pursuing what they want to do in life but he wasn’t so sure on his other friend right here who’s coughing up a storm because he accidentally inhaled the dust from the eraser.

In the midst of his coughing, he still attempts to talk. “A-Already thinking--” a series of coughs. “A-About what you wa-wanna do?” coughing. “H-Huh?” he finishes his sentence and proceeds to cough up another storm. Hideyoshi leans the broom on the wall and attempts to comfort his dying friend. “Yes, and what do you think you’ll be doing? With your, um… grades and all.”

“I don’t know why but that sounded like an insult.”

Hideyoshi laughed and continued to sweep like nothing happened as the other brunette looked at him in disbelief. Wow, how come there’s so much dirt in here even though we don’t even wear our shoes inside? “How cruel of you, Hideyoshi… right after I complimented you too...”

“How was that a compliment after being called your wife?! I’m a  _ guy! _ ”

Have patience Hideyoshi, he’s only doing this because of his act. Though, he is surprised. Never in his life would he ever find someone as patience as he is after being called a girl for almost all his life and all he could do is sigh and brush it off. The third gendered in front of him sighed at his own antics and continued to sweep.

The cleaning didn’t stop until about after an hour. To be real, the class was full of guys that were lazy and would rather spend their time at home watching anime, reading manga or play on their 3DS. It took a lot of effort to make them actually clean and a lot of bribing of HIdeyoshi’s photos to make them move quickly.

Hideyoshi hadn’t been the one to go home first (but who actually cares about the other guys) and bid Akihisa farewell as the other was rearranging the tables and putting back the cushions to the respectful owners. The boy had thought about the pudding in the fridge at home as he walked down the halls to the stairs. He’d been waiting since the morning to eat that pudding but one thing led to another and resulted in him having to wait almost half a day.

He’d then decided to save the pudding until after dinner and maybe homework as a treat after all of his hard work. He turned a corner to go down the stairs but long snow white hair that flowed just a few steps before made him jump and almost yelp but then he stopped himself and hid behind the corner. There was a smooth and elegant voice that accompanied the snow white hair and it was familiar to Hideyoshi’s ears.

Jumping a bit into his memory, he’d recognized that voice to be Tsukiko’s. But what was she doing here when all of the other students had gone home? Sure, students from class A tend to stay back until the evening to study in the library but not until this late. Hideyoshi peeked out to see her still talking to someone on the phone. Geez… if she was going to have a phone call, at least make it not on the stairs when someone could bump into her and fall down or be jumped by her long hair.

“--e hasn’t said anything about it.” her voice stopped and he accidentally eavesdropped.

“I know but he’s delaying it and I don’t know how to speed up time.”

Another pause.

“I have and he’s read it.He said he’ll think about it.”

There was a short pause and Tsukiko had suddenly raised her voice a little. “With all due respect, I don’t think he wants to go back.”

“Akihisa has smiled here more often than he was back there. He absolutely doesn’t want to go ba--”

Another pause and Tsukiko straightened her posture. “Of course, I love him but I’d love it if he were to smile sincerely and not because you told him--”

Then her previously tensed shoulders sagged down. Indicating obviously she was upset. It reminded him of a similar scenario when he had been praying everyday and so hard that he’d cats the role of a prince or any male actors every time there was a play but he’d always get casted as the female lead role. Sure, the lead role was nice but not when he’d have to wear a dress, gown or anything remotely feminine. He was used to it of course but he’d just wish for a change of scenery for once.

Hideyoshi hears Tsukiko sigh and he couldn’t help but sympathize her as he takes a peek at her. He sees her running her hand through he white locks and plays at the ends of it. He wondered what kind of phone call did she had to have made her look like she was under a lot of stress. He wanted to ask her but if she knew he was listening on to her conversation on the phone, she’d feel hostile towards him as she knew he was eavesdropping.

It wasn’t his fault though, somebody would feel curious as to why a person would have stopped what she was doing to sit down on a stair step to have a conversation on the phone. He hears the girl standing up and grabbing her bag, then starts walking down. Silently, he waits for a moment that she’d have gone down farther enough so that she won’t notice him.

He didn’t know why but her finding out that he was there had sent him into full cautious mode.

While slowly stepping down the stairs, his mind had wondered back to the phone call. Who was she talking to that made it sound so serious? She must’ve been talking to her father or someone older than her to have not spoke her mind and controlled her tone. What does she mean by delaying? Delaying what? Akihisa was his friend and he won’t let anybody make him do something that sounded shady. What documents was she talking about? Documents meant that there was some top secret files that might include something an 18 year old girl should not be talking about.

What kind of documents was she talking about though.

And… and love? Love… Akihisa? Why? Tsukiko didn’t even know him like Hideyoshi and all his other friends are. She’s only known him for a month and no one can fall in love with someone that quickly unless he did something so heroic to her that he knew that boy would have the courage to do. He might be dumb and his academic skills are low but he’s brave and his courage is high.

Those questions kept on racing in his mind until he finds himself at his shoe locker. He sputtered in confusion as he himself didn’t even knew how or when he got here. He was supposed to be following Tsukiko, right? Wait… where was… she…

He whipped his head around as he put on his shoes and saw no signs of her. Not a single white flowing hair was in sight. Suddenly his phone rang. “Hello--”

“Hideyoshi! What’s taking so long for you to get home?” his sister’s loud voice felt like it pierced his eardrums through         his phone’s speaker. He rubbed his ear for a second before answering. “Sis… I’m sorry, I’m on my way home now.” he apologized and had already set foot out the school gates. “You better! Mother is making our favorites for dinner.” hearing his sister say that, he imagined his favorite dishes along with his sister’s laid out on the table made his feet move faster.

“Ah! Okay, okay!” he rushed home and forgot about his earlier pondering.

\--

In a limousine not far from the school gates, Naomi sat in the back seat staring at the running boy in front of her. She wondered how long his friends are gonna be curious of her and make her lie all the time. She already was a terrible liar, she didn’t need a reminder of that every time they ask her what her intentions were to Akihisa. She sighed and stared at the she-male until he was out of sight. “Come on, Michael.” she said, in english, to her driver. (who lived in the same condominium but in a different apartment.)

The man nodded and started the engine for the ride home. Naomi was partially excited tonight as she had invited Akihisa over to make and eat dinner with her  and was partially nervous as they were going to have a mild discussion about the documents.

\--

_ Naomi was on her way home after studying a bit on Japanese history when her phone rang in her bag. The halls were relatively empty at this time of day as some students had stayed back to clean their classes as she’d learn that most schools in Japan does. Though, her class didn’t need to clean at all since the school hired janitors just for their class which was unfair too. Still, she didn’t want to risk it and went into a stairwell that most people didn’t go down and it was right next to the empty classrooms that served as storage rooms. _

_ She pulled her phone from her bag and internally groaned when she saw who was on the caller ID. “Good evening, Mr Yoshii.” she answered and took a seat on one of the steps of the stairs. _

_ “Good morning, Naomi. How are you?” _

_ “I’m fine, thank you. And you--?” she was cut off by the man. “How’s Akihisa?” _

_ Oh, this again. “He’s fine as well, low on money since you cut off his expenses last year.” Akihisa had told her that he managed until now by selling his video games after buying new one. He told her that he couldn’t get a part-time job since the school didn’t allow students to have jobs while still in school but some people still got one. “I thought he’d call me to let him have access to his account.” he explained and there was some noises that sounded like he was just about to enter his office building. “And you were wrong.” she said and earned a sigh from the man. She heard small talking and she suspected he was talking to his secretary. _

_ “So why haven’t you given back his money?” _

_ “He needs to learn.” _

_ Learning didn’t mean making your own son live by himself on a limited budget of money and in the end cutting off all access to his own bank account. Has he said anything other than Akihisa needing to learn? Has he only been thinking of that vague conclusion? How close minded is this man about his own son that he himself slaved over to work in his own office and disciplined him without any love and care. Did he even know why he left in the first place? He was scared and angry. _

_ Mr Yoshii has ever only thought about Akihisa not in the way a father would, no. He thought of him in the way an employer would think of his employees. After all those talks about how he understood his own son and how much pressure he’s put on the boy were mildly true but the minute she’d reported that his son is doing fine and well, all those things were completely off the table. “Has he said anything about the documents?” the man asks after she heard him talking to his secretary. _

_ “He hasn’t said anything about it.” _

_ “Make it quick because he doesn’t have long until that big project is cancelled.” she heard multiple papers on the phone and a pile of stapled paper being put on a table. “I know but he’s delaying it and I don’t know how to speed up time.” _

_ She heard the man sigh and grunted to stand up. “Has that boy even-- did you even gave him the documents?” he asked. “I have and he’s read it. He said he’ll think about it.” From here, she can feel the frustrations the man was feeling and she predicted he had lain back on his chair, running his fingers through his grey hair. “You slacking off like this sounds to me like you don’t even want him back here.” _

_ She straightened her posture, her brows furrowed and had the man tried to mock her on her own mission? What does he know, he only wanted Akihisa back fo the sake of work, not to settle the things between them. Sometimes she wondered how his father, Akihisa’s grandfather, ever raised him to be this selfish, manipulative and overbearing man he is now. “With all due respect, I don’t think he wants to go back.”  _

_ There was a silence. _

_ “What did you say?” he asked. She can feel the anger from the man on the other side. “Akihisa has smiled here more often than he was back there. He absolutely doesn’t want to go ba--” _

_ She was cut off, “Do you even love him?” what was this man even doing, mentioning love into this? _

_ “Of course, I love him but I’d love it if he were to smile sincerely and not because you told him--” _

_ “Get me my documents by next week. You’ll receive a phone call from your father later on.” he hung up on her before she even had the chance to ask what he meant that she’ll get a call from her father. _

\--

At around 5 in the afternoon, Akihisa had made it to Naomi’s condominium for dinner like they promised just this morning and to discuss about other things. He knew what those things are but he’d rather not think about it and focused on the evening he’ll spend cooking with Naomi and have a little fun together with Mamoru-san as well. He rang up on Naomi’s phone and waited for a few seconds before Mamoru-san opened the door and welcomed him in. “Good afternoon, master Akihisa.” the man greeted him with a smile that made all of the wrinkles on his face visible.

“Good afternoon to you too, Mamoru-san.” he took off his shoes and strolled into household. He walked through the short hallway and saw the relatively small kitchen that looked the same as his but with more kitchen appliances. After that, a small dining area and the spacious living room accompanied with a flat screen TV, incredibly comfy looking sofas and a balcony with a pleasing view.

He sat down in one of the sofa chair and humbly accepted the tea Mamoru-san had served. Although he was in his and Naomi’s house, he didn’t fail to wear his usual butler clothing or something similar to it. “Where’s Naomi?” he asked since he’s ever seen the old man after arriving. “She’ll be out shortly, I’m guessing she’s reading up on the recipe she’s been practising for a while.” he said and gesture to the door beside the TV, guess that was her room then, he thought.

Then, the door opened to reveal Naomi mumbling something as she read whatever it was that was on her phone. The girl didn’t even realize that Akihisa was sitting there until she saw a cup of tea on the coffee table. “Ah, Akihisa. Sorry.” she apologized and turned off her phone.

The brunette laughed and brushed it off. “No need to be, anyways. Let’s get started.”

This was the first time he’s ever set foot into her and Mamoru-san’s house and has ever had dinner with her, much less eat her cooking. Naomi wasn’t all that worried since she was sure that cooking meant following the instructions in the recipe and she can’t understand how some people could mess up when all they need to do is read and do a few things and sometimes even wait a bit.

Besides that, cooking like this has really taken her mind off the other thing she will have to talk about with him. It was nice to do somethings normal for a teenager for a change instead of being an adult all the time, she hasn’t had a chance to be a teenager since all her life was a build up to her finally inheriting her father’s fortune and work.

Going out to lunch together, buying things at the shopping mall, dating, contributing to school activities and such, she didn’t have time for all that, all she could do was listen and watch all the politicians, the businessman who had their own company, the many presentations by workers she didn’t know. All of those information mixed together into one person who’s going to run the Alexandre company.

But Akihisa, the boy beside her who was cutting up a shallot into tiny pieces, had actually got the chance to live as a normal kid. He went against his father’s orderand ran away, she would have said ‘finally’ when it wasn’t such a serious time and even she didn’t even know where he was. He wanted to run away for a while now ever since he’s opened up to her about his lifestyle at home. She wanted to help but she didn’t know what it’s like to live in such an overbearing family and she loved how her parents are. It didn’t help the feeling of guilt when all Akihisa had left her was a long message saying how he’s finally out of the house. She wanted to come with but obedience was her nature.

Now, she was glad that she didn’t come with him because he wouldn’t have any one of his friends he has today since all she would have done was drag him away from everything that was fun. But now when her mission right now was bringing him back from the happiness he worked so hard to obtain, she’d just wish that his father had a change of heart and somehow change himself from being so manipulative to his own son and finally understand the stress a certain 18 year old should not be handling.

However, she was wrong.

\--

“This… wasn’t a… fail!” Naomi exclaimed as she widened her eyes at the simple feast she and the brunette beside her had made.

Technically, it wasn’t a  _ complete  _ fail. She did burn the  _ chashu  _ just a tiny bit but he saved it from turning into a coal and the noodles were slightly undercooked but all in all, it was a successful cook. He was proud of her but she needed more practise unless she wants to eat something resembling a lump of coal. Yup, her specialty in cooking is that she can turn anything into something that can resemble a lump of coal.

“Let’s eat!” he said and decided to help set the table while Naomi called for her butler.

Unsurprisingly, the man had came to help and set the table faster than Akihisa since he had no idea where everything is. But why didn’t the man join in on the dinner was a mystery when they had made it enough for at least 3 people. “Why do you not want to join?” Naomi asks. The butler waved his hand in decline, “It’s alright. I wish to retire for tonight.”

He said and made his way to his room. The two watched in confusion but didn’t pry into why he didn’t join since the man was always sometimes mysterious in his own way. He was a private man. They didn’t need to interrogate his life and all that. Instead, they take their seats at the table and began eating. “Thank you for the meal.”

The aroma of the meal had filled the whole room and it made them almost drool. Akihisa had actually licked his lips before taking his chopsticks and taking a mouthful of noodles, slurping them all in one try, Naomi had some difficulties slurping so she had cut her strands short. Their eyes widened and both of them met one another, before they had a chance of swallowing, they burst out laughing so suddenly. No one choked, fortunately. They laughed because they had the same thought in their minds as they took the first bite and was surprised that the other had the same reaction. “It’s… it’s actually edible.” she said and slurped another mouthful.

Akihisa laughed at the girl’s statement but then remained silent as he took another slurp of the ramen. They remained quiet and content at the comfortable silence that fell upon them.

\--

An hour had passed since they started dinner and were now in the process of washing it down with some beverages. The comfortable silence was still there as they downed their drinks. This was great and all but Naomi fears of what’s about to happen. They’ve been putting this off for too long and she was never going to hear the end of this from his father. She eyed the brunette and waited for the right time, or more likely, procrastinating at picking the right time. She put down her drink that’s been at her lips for the past minute and sighed.

Akihisa noticed and shifted his gaze over to her, putting his attention to her as he didn’t have anything else to look at. She can feel his eyes on her now. ‘Well, it’s now or never.’ she thought and sucked in a breath. “You know the whole reason why I invited you right?” she asked.

The boy sighed and shifted his gaze to his cup of iced tea. He too sighed audibly. “What has father said to you?” he asked. “Friday is our deadline. You have to decide before so I can deliver it to him on time.” she said.

“What if I don’t. What if I don’t sign it.”

Naomi stayed silent but she shook her head. “You can’t. He’s going to retire soon and the whole project that’s already in the making is going be canceled and go to waste.” she was telling the truth but he knew she was hiding another thing about it.

“I know that.” he said, while looking straight into her eyes.

“Then why do you question?”

“Because I know this isn’t the only reason behind wanting to discuss it with me."

“There isn’t. All you need to do is sign it so that there won’t be any problems concerning the director.”

“That’s not all, is there.”

“That’s all there is. Now, please say you’ll sign it.”

“What if I don’t. Say, I won’t sign it and I rip the paper into shreds.”

This boy-- was he even listening to her? She was trying to save him from a miserable life after school. “You are so difficult. Look, I’m trying to save your future so that the Yoshii Branch won’t suffer from a bad reputation and the nosy media--”

“Why do you keep covering up the real reason behind a longer version of the first one?” he asked.

“Because you’re not listening. Do you know what kind of hole you’re digging up for the company?”

“Since when have you cared so much about my father’s company? I thought you knew why I don’t want to sign it.”

“I--I know, but still--”

“Naomi, you’re a bad liar. Just because of my father’s retiring, the huge waste of money and the nosy press won’t cut it. You know I can handle that.”

She stayed silent. He was strong and he was smart enough so that the commotion if he didn’t signed would die down in a matter of 2 weeks but the other thing about it if he didn’t sign it. “...then what do you want me to say?”

“I want you to say the other thing my father said to you.”

“How are you so sure that he said any other thing?”

“Because that man will go to any lengths to get what he wants. I’ve known him for all my childhood, you don’t know what it’s like.” it’s true, she didn’t know what it’s like but she knows how the man operates around working. She stayed silent, already on the verge of spilling everything out. The give up side was getting more heavier than the keep silent side. Eventually, she did spoke.

“Please, tell me.”

“...--elocated.” he heard her murmur.

“What?”

Naomi sighed. It was now or never. “I said… my father’s going to get relocated to another country in a permanent position. He goes then I have to follow, meaning we won’t get to meet ever again after that.”

The boy in front of her was silent after that. The realization of her sentence already sinking in. Did he heard what he thought he heard? Had the man wanted to make him hate him more than he already did? “You’re transferring?”

  
To be continued.


End file.
